Monday, January 10, 2005

Three for Four

Vikings stun Packers 31-17

Not to brag, but how many people can say they called three of this wild (card) weekend's four football games? The Jets surprised me--though Marty Schottenheimer's refusal to throw for the end zone in OT is what really lost the game for the Chargers--but everything else fell into place, including the victory of two 8-8 teams that I predicted last Monday.

It happened because Culpepper is a better quarterback, now, than Brett Favre. Culpepper's days of making bad decisions are behind him, while Favre's days of being able to play himself out of his momentary lapses of reason are in the past. The combination was too much for the Packers to overcome. In a fair world, that's where the focus is this morning, not on some silly celebration dance. (You'd think Moss actually dropped trou rather than merely miming it.) Culpepper flat-out beat Favre. He did it with his arm. He did it with his legs, leading his team in rushing yards. And he did it with his head, never throwing the sort of errant passes that allowed the Vikes to pick Favre off four times.

Not that any of this will matter. The Vikings have only the third-best shot at emerging from next weekend as an advancing wild-card winner, after the Colts, who I think will finally take the Patriots despite the weather, and the Rams, who could benefit from the fact that the Falcons play in a dome. Sorry, Jets, but the Steelers are just too much for you, or probably for anyone.

1 comment:

Richard said...

Way to work an Iowa reference in there, Mark.

I must note again: I feel sorry for Kaeding, but he never should have had to kick that field goal in the first place. San Diego has a big, durable tight end who could have scored a touchdown had Marty only allowed Drew Brees to air it out a single time in that direction. It's easy to miss the goal posts; it's pretty tough to miss the end zone. Schottenheimer is spending next weekend at home for a good reason: he deserves to.