In the intro for the Game Thread I put up before the start of yesterday's action, I implied that if the Vikings could simply play consistent football for 60 minutes, they should be able to come out with a win.
Well, I was half right. . .they did play a consistent game of football for two halves. Unfortunately, it was consistently bad.
Yes, the Vikings are one of only four teams in the National Football League that are currently without a victory at the quarter pole of the season. (I realize the Indianapolis Colts play tonight, but they're going to have a tough time not going to 0-4, in my opinion.) They allowed 22 points to a team that had been averaging just nine points a contest going into yesterday's action, and gave up 350 yards of offense to the team that had been dead last in the NFL in that category.
Once again, the offense was awful, and though they tried to drive late at the end of the game, quarterback Donovan McNabb was awful on the last few snaps. Starting on first and ten from the Kansas City 41-yard line with two minutes left in the game, McNabb had consecutive passes knocked down by defensive linemen, the first by Kelly Gregg and the second by Tyson Jackson. McNabb then miss Bernard Berrian on third down, and completely airmailed one over Visanthe Shiancoe on fourth down on a play that would have been nullified by a Phil Loadholt penalty even if it had been completed.
We've dissected a lot of Sunday's game already, and Ted will be by with the Stock Market Report tomorrow. . .but I'll just say this. I've mentioned numerous times before that my first year as a Viking fan (that I can clearly remember) was the Les Steckel disaster season of 1984, when the team split their first four games, then lost 11 of their last 12 to finish 3-13 on the year.
This team might be worse.