The Vikings' season is, officially, over with, and the playoff picture is still a little bit fuzzy, but the late games today will put almost all of it into focus for us. Another great opportunity. . .actually, your last opportunity of the year. . .to check out the Comcast Red Zone to keep up with all of the action that will tell us who is playing where this post-season.

The late slate of games looks like this:

San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos
Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers
Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans
Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts
Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles
Arizona Cardinals at San Francisco 49ers
New York Giants at Washington Redskins

The last playoff spot, regardless of what happens in any of the above games, will be decided by the Sunday Night Football clash between the St. Louis Rams and the Seattle Seahawks at Qwest Field.

For all of the scenarios, check out our post from earlier in the day.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the last weekend of regular season football for this season, ladies and gentlemen.

Yep, ladies and gentlemen, with the Vikings not playing until this evening. . .maybe. . .it's time once again to fire up the Red Zone Channel and keep an eye on all of the football action across the National Football League in Week 16.

There are three major contests on this week's NFL slate, the first one involving the NFC North's best team, the Chicago Bears. They'll be hosting the New York Jets today in a game that actually means something for both teams. Chicago controls their own destiny for a first-round bye in the NFC Playoffs, and will need a win over the Jets to keep a hold of it. The Jets, on the other hand, can clinch a playoff spot today with a victory at Soldier Field. (The Jets can get in with a couple of other scenarios, too, but a win over the Bears is the most direct path.)

The second one is one of this afternoon's late games, as it will feature the New York Giants heading to Green Bay to take on the Packers. The Giants are coming off of a monumental collapse last weekend against the Eagles, and can clinch a playoff spot today with a victory. The Packers have a quarterback coming off of a concussion, and won't definitively be in the post-season even with a victory today. Of course, we all know who we want to win this one. Hopefully good can triumph over evil this afternoon and drive a final stake into the playoff hopes of the Packers.

The last one is this week's Monday night match-up between the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints. The Falcons are the NFC's best team, and need just one victory in their final two games to wrap up home field advantage in the NFC. . .which would be huge for them, considering that starting quarterback Matt Ryan has lost a grand total of one game at the Georgia Dome during the time he's been Atlanta's starter. The Saints can clinch a post-season spot and keep their slim NFC South playoff hopes alive with a win on Monday night as well.

Here's the full slate of Week 16 NFL action for your viewing pleasure.

Noon Central Time kickoffs

New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills
New York Jets at Chicago Bears
Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns
Washington Redskins at Jacksonville Jaguars
Tennessee Titans at Kansas City Chiefs
Detroit Lions at Miami Dolphins
San Francisco 49ers at St. Louis Rams

3:15 PM Central Time kickoffs

New York Giants at Green Bay Packers
San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals
Houston Texans at Denver Broncos
Indianapolis Colts at Oakland Raiders
Seattle Seahawks at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

7:20 PM Central Time kickoff

Minnesota Vikings at Philadelphia Eagles (POSTPONED UNTIL 7 PM CENTRAL TIME TUESDAY)

7:30 PM Central Time Monday kickoff

New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons

Yes, folks, since the Beloved Purple won't be taking to the field until Monday night, today is one of those Sundays that you can just sit back, tune the television to one channel, and just let the awesomeness of the Red Zone Channel overwhelm you. We're at Week 15 of the regular season, and while only one NFL team has clinched a post-season spot to this point, we're to the point where a lot of things are going to start falling into place here. The fifteen NFL games that will take place today are being touted as the best week of regular season football we're going to get this year, so let's take a look at what's being offered up.

We'll start in the AFC, where the only team with a guaranteed playoff berth thus far resides. The New England Patriots have punched their ticket, and can clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs if they can somehow knock off the Matt Flynn Experience™ in the Sunday Night game, and the New York Jets lose to or tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Should the Patriots tie. . .not bloody likely. . .they can still get home field with a Jets loss.)

The Steelers can clinch a playoff spot with a win, and can clinch the AFC North with a win and a couple of different scenarios involving the "strength of victory" tiebreaker. Since it's about 5 AM when I'm typing this, I don't have the desire at this point in time to figure all of that out. If the Steelers lose to the Jets today, they can still clinch a playoff spot if the Indianapolis Colts lose and the Kansas City Chiefs lose.

In the AFC South, it's simple. . .if the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Indianapolis Colts, they win the AFC South.

The Jets can clinch a playoff spot today if they win, the Miami Dolphins lose or tie, the Colts lose or tie and the Chiefs lose or tie. The Baltimore Ravens can clinch a playoff spot today through much the same scenario. . .though, in their case, a Chiefs' tie doesn't do them any good. They need Kansas City to lose.

Over in the NFC, one team is thisclose to wrapping up a spot, that being the Atlanta Falcons. A win gets the Falcons in, no questions asked. If the Falcons lose today, they still get in if the Giants, Bears, or Packers lose. A loss by any of those three teams gets the Falcons into the post-season.

We've been over the Bears' playoff scenario. . .if they beat Minnesota on Monday night, they will win the NFC North (because the Packers are going to get throttled by New England tonight).

The New Orleans Saints can also assure themselves of a playoff spot today in a couple of different ways. If they win and can get a loss out of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers AND a loss from either the Giants, Bears, or Packers, the Saints will be back in the post-season.

Even the New York Giants can clinch a playoff spot if they win AND the Bears lose or tie AND the Packers lose AND the Giants manage to clinch the ever-confusing strength of victory tiebreaker over Tampa Bay.

And those are basically all the scenarios for today. Here's the full slate of NFL Week 15 action.

Noon Central kickoffs

New Orleans Saints at Baltimore Ravens
Arizona Cardinals at Carolina Panthers
Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals
Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins
Jacksonville Jaguars at Indianapolis Colts
Buffalo Bills at Miami Dolphins
Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants
Kansas City Chiefs at St. Louis Rams
Detroit Lions at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Houston Texans at Tennessee Titans

3:15 PM Central kickoffs

Atlanta Falcons at Seattle Seahawks
Denver Broncos at Oakland Raiders
New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers

7:20 PM Central kickoff

Green Bay Packers at New England Patriots

7:30 PM Central Monday kickoff

Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings

And there you have it, folks. . .fire up the Red Zone Channel, get yourself some hot chocolate, and just relax.

Usually, I use the Comcast sponsored posts to talk about the Vikings' red zone performance and stuff like that. I may still go back and do that later on this week, but right now I want to use this time to talk about the amazing experience I got to have last weekend courtesy of the Vikings at the Metrodome. Yes, this post is likely going to end up containing quite a bit of braggadocio, and I may set a world record for the use of the phrase "this is awesome" and its various derivatives. . .if you're not into that kind of thing, feel free to sample some of our other various articles.

The whole idea for me ending up in Minneapolis for last weekend's game wasn't actually my idea. A few weeks back. . .can't remember what game it was, exactly. . .I was relatively bummed out about the Vikings and didn't feel like writing a whole lot of anything. Mrs. Gonzo, bless her heart, sensed this, and when I told her what the issue was, she simply said, "Well, why don't you go see a game for yourself?"

I love my wife.

So, I sent a few e-mails to Jon Ekstrom in the Vikings' P.R. office and, after a couple of exchanges to map out the particulars, had secured a press credential for the Metrodome for the game against the Buffalo Bills. I won't lie. . .I basically picked the Bills game because I thought it was a game the Vikings could win. I'm in the midst of two weeks of leave, and I could have asked about either the Bills game or the Giants game this weekend. But then, even with the way the Vikings and the Bills had been playing coming into last weekend's contest, I wondered whether my investment in a trip to Minneapolis was a wise one.

Here is, basically, how the experience went.

Continue reading this post »

First off, thanks to everyone that came to the Game Threads to hang out and converse while the Vikings and Redskins were doing battle today. It might not have been the most exciting game in Vikings' history, but after the season we've been through thus far and in the first game of the Leslie Frazier era, it was nice to see the Beloved Purple walk away with the team's first road victory in 393 days (dating back to 1 November of 2009). They did it by playing (mostly) solid defense, and getting some solid performances from a couple of unexpected sources.

There were a few things that I tossed out in the Game Threads that I thought could start some conversation, as well as a few things I've found in various places since the game finished. No real order to any of these or anything, just as I find them again or as they pop into my head.

-The touchdown Adrian Peterson scored on the Vikings' first drive was the 50th touchdown of his career. He has 48 rushing touchdowns, and two receiving scores. His 48 rushing touchdowns already put him into third place all-time in Vikings history, behind only Bill Brown and Chuck Foreman, each of whom have 52.

-The game-sealing scramble by Brett Favre covered 10 yards of ground. In his previous 26 games with the Vikings, he had rushed for a grand total of. . .six yards.

-Favre's scramble was one of only two rushes in the entire game that covered double-digit yardage. Adrian Peterson's first carry of the second quarter was the longest of the game, as it went for 14 yards.

-Toby Gerhart, who filled in for Peterson after his ankle injury, didn't have a run longer than six yards. . .nobody in a Washington uniform had a run longer than four on the afternoon. But while Gerhart didn't have a run of longer than six yards, he gained at least four yards on 13 of his 22 carries on the afternoon. That's some pretty decent consistency.

-This was the first time all season that the Vikings went for the entire game without turning the ball over. . .and hey, what do you know, they won. Weird how that works, huh?

-Something else that tends to help is getting off to a fast start, and the Vikings scored a touchdown on their first drive of the game for the first time all season. In fact, the Vikings only trailed today for three minutes and 46 seconds. . .the amount of time it took to answer the Redskins' opening drive touchdown with Peterson's five-yard rush touchdown.

-Toby Gerhart's performance today is almost certainly connected to the fact that he spoke with Eric at a Twin Cities Cub Foods location this past week. Unlike Anthony Herrera blowing out his knee not long after speaking with Eric, as those two events are in no way, shape, or form even remotely close to being connectable.

-Leslie Frazier got his first career victory as an NFL head coach today at FedEx Field. Four and a half years ago on a Monday night, Brad Childress got his first career victory as an NFL head coach at. . .FedEx Field.

And there you have it. . .a few random things from this afternoon's game. If you have other things you want to add or stuff that you heard about this afternoon's game that I missed, feel free to add them in the comments section.

Since we must, it's time to take one last look back at the Red Zone performance of the Vikings in last week's rout at the hands of the Green Bay Packers.

Offensively, it's quite easy. The Vikings made it into the Red Zone one time. It happened on their first drive of the game, when they wound up settling for a 24-yard field goal by Ryan Longwell. They didn't move the ball into the Red Zone for the rest of the game, and honestly didn't even really come close.

Defensively, the Vikings only allowed two Red Zone touchdowns. Of course, they allowed four touchdowns, but hey. . .only two of them came from within the Red Zone. One of them never should have happened, as it came on a 11-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings that came only after Husain Abdullah failed to use his oblongata and secure a Rodgers pass that hit him right in the hands. Quite frankly, the other one shouldn't have happened either, as it came on a three-yard pass to James Jones with five seconds left in the half. Naturally, it came after the Packers got the ball back on a pass that Brett Favre never should have thrown as the Vikings were threatening to get into the Green Bay Red Zone again and actually considered making a game of it before just deciding that it really wasn't worth trying after all.

The rest of Green Bay's points came on two touchdown passes to Greg Jennings that originated outside of the Red Zone and a long Mason Crosby field goal.

And there you go. . .a comprehensive review of the Vikings' Red Zone performance against the Packers.

Now, let's never speak of this again.

Well, there's going to be at least one more of these during the course of this week, but that one's going to be a more comprehensive look at the Vikings' red zone prowess. . .or, in many cases, the complete lack thereof. . .this season. Today, we're just going to focus on today's game against the Bears. And, really, it shouldn't take long. . .at least, not on the offensive side of the ball.

The Vikings' offense made three trips into the red zone this afternoon against the NFC North leading Chicago Bears. The first one came on Minnesota's first drive of the football game, as they went down the field in 11 plays, covering 62 yards in the process, and wound up denting the scoreboard first on Ryan Longwell's field goal from 36 yards out. Technically, the only play the Vikings ran in the red zone was the field goal attempt, but hey. . .the folks at NFL.com apparently count it, so we will, too.

The next one for the Vikings' offense came on their next drive, as Minnesota moved the ball well again, this time getting to the Chicago 11-yard line. However, things quickly went south after that, as a questionable intentional grounding call on Favre. . .there were receivers in the area that he threw the ball, if memory serves correctly, pushed the Vikings back, and Ryan Longwell smacked a 39-yard field goal attempt off of the upright.

The final try for the Viking offense came on their third drive of the third quarter, after a big pass interference penalty resulting from Brett Favre trying to find Percy Harvin deep. However, as we all know, the Vikings couldn't turn it into a touchdown, and had to settle for another Longwell field goal, this one from 33 yards away.

And that was it for the Vikings' offense. The Vikings' defense, on the other hand, let the Bears go crazy in the red zone, which was in keeping with the way they performed for most of the afternoon. Chicago got into the red zone on five different occasions, and came away with four scores, including all three of Jay Cutler's touchdown passes on the afternoon. The fourth was a Robbie Gould field goal, and the fifth actually wound up being an interception by Husain Abdullah (Oblongata). Abdullah actually had two interceptions on the afternoon, and was one of Minnesota's few defensive bright spots today.

So there you have it. . .in summary, the Vikings were terrible in the red zone today, and the Bears were really good. (Well, I guess the Vikings weren't terrible in the red zone. . .they just didn't get there nearly enough times.) Guess that makes it less surprising that Chicago won, huh?

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