The Minnesota Vikings allowed the Cardinals to stay close in this game because of some big mistakes, but they held on to prevail.  The Cardinals returned the opening kick-off 99 yards for a TD.  The Cards also recovered a Chester Taylor fumble and returned it 99 yards for a TD!

Brad Johnson stuck to the short stuff and had a productive game as he completed 27 of 41 passes for 271 yards and 3 TDs.  Chester Taylor was busy with 27 carries for 136 yards (5.0 ypc) and a TD.  He also caught 3 passes for 35 yards.  Marcus Robinson led the receivers with 7 catches for 82 yards and a TD.  Travis Taylor added 5 catches for 56 yards.  Jermaine Wiggins had a decent game with 6 receptions for 52 yards.  Billy McMullen and Jeff Dugan each caught a TD pass.

Antoine Winfield led the way on defense with 13 tackles.  Dwight Smith had an outstanding game with 6 tackes and 2 interceptions.  The Vikings held the Cards to 17 yards rushing on 6 carries (2.8 ypc).  The Cards completed 31 of 51 passes for 395 net yards thru the air.

The game was a tight one, but the Vikings got a much needed win to improve to 5-6 on the season.

The Vikings offense had two huge turnovers in the 4th quarter that led to their loss against the Dolphins.  Reynaldo Hill returned a Chester Taylor fumble 48 yards for a TD and Jason Taylor intercepted a screen pass from Brad Johnson and raced 51 yards for a TD.

Brad Johnson completed 26 of 44 passes for 262 yards and an INT.  Chester Taylor carried the ball 28 times for 80 yards (2.9 ypc) and scored 2 TDs, but he lost 2 fumbles.  Mewelde Moore carried the ball once for 14 yards and caught 5 passes for 32 yards.  Travis Taylor caught 8 passes for 67 yards and Jermaine Wiggins caught 6 passes for 66 yards.

The defense played very well for the Vikings.  Dwight Smith (7 tackles, fumble recovery) and Antoine Winfield (5 tackles, INT) led the way on defense.  The Vikings held the Dolphins to -3 yards rushing on 14 carries (-0.2 ypc).  The Dolphins completed 26 of 42 passes for 254 net yards thru the air.

It might be time for the coach to consider benching some of his offensive players.

These are two teams going in different directions.  The Vikings have looked awful the last three weeks, losing all three games by a combined score of 63-27!  The Dolphins have turned up the defense the last two weeks and shut down the Chiefs & Bears in wins.

The Vikings will just run their offense and hope they have some success moving the ball against the tough Miami Dolphins defense.  Look for the Vikings to lean on the running game with Chester Taylor running to the left behind Bryant McKinnie and Steve Hutchinson.  The Dolphins can be run on as they’ve allowed 99.8 yards rushing per game, but you have to stick with it because they only allow 3.4 yards per carry.  Look for Brad Johnson to take a couple deep shots to Bethel Johnson and Billy McMullen who both played well last week.

The Dolphins will go with what has worked for them and try to run the ball with Ronnie Brown.  Brown has rushed for 246 yards the last two weeks…..both victories.  The Vikings defense has been tough so far allowing only 66.6 yards rushing per game and 2.9 yards per carry.  The Vikings do allow 225.0 net yards passing per game, so Joey Harrington could have some success throwing the football.

Look for this to be a close, low-scoring football game.  The winner will be the team that protects the football better.

Starting FB Tony Richardson fractured his forearm Sunday but still wants to play in next week’s game in Miami.  Reserve linebacker Jason Glenn will miss the remainder of the season after he tore his ACL in loss to Packers on Sunday.

The Vikings season is going down the tubes quickly.  Even the defense that had been so good this season couldn’t stop Brett Favre & the Packers.  Brad Johnson had a decent game, completing 18 of 30 passes for 257 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT.  Chester Taylor carried the ball 20 times for 75 yards (3.8 ypc) and caught 2 passes for 20 yards.  Mewelde Moore carried the ball 3 times for 15 yards and caught 5 passes for 57 yards.  Bethel Johnson had a decent game with 2 receptions for 75 yards.  Billy McMullen scored both of the TDs for the Vikings today.  McMullen caught 3 passes for 64 yards and a TD.  McMullen also returned a Chester Taylor fumble for a TD.

Dontarrious Thomas (10 tackles) and Pat Williams (9 tackles) led the way for the defense.  The Vikings stuffed the Packers running game, holding them to 47 yards on 26 carries (1.8 ypc).  The Packers shredded the Vikings secondary, completing 24 of 42 passes for 317 net yards passing.

The Vikings are a sinking ship right now.

The Packers will try to rebound from losing a game 24-10 to Buffalo in which they out-gained the Bills 427-184!  The Vikings have been absolutely horrible on offense the last two weeks as they’re only scored 10 points in those games combined.

Brett Favre hasn’t had much success at the MetroDome as his career record there is 4-10.  He will have to play well Sunday for the Packers to have a chance to win this game.  The Packers would love to run with Ahman Green (561 yards rushing) and Noah Herron but the Vikings’ run defense has been awesome this season allowing only 69.0 yards per game and 3.1 yards per carry.  Favre has had a decent season so far (1,948 yards passing) but he’ll have to be careful against the Vikings defense that has picked off 9 passes this season.  The fun thing to watch will be WR Donald Driver (50 rec, 580 yards) matched up against Antoine Winfield of the Vikings.

The Vikings will try to run the ball with Chester Taylor (708 yards rushing) at a decent run defense of the Packers that allow 98.0 yards rushing and 3.8 yards per carry.  If the Vikings can establish a running game, that should slow down the Packers pass rush enough to get the ball down the field a little in the passing game.  The Vikings could have a tough time with DE Aaron Kampman of the Packers who already has 9.5 sacks this season, they had better double team him on passing plays or he will be in their backfield.  Brad Johnson hasn’t played well with only 4 TDs and 8 INTs, but the Packers pass defense is weak and has allowed 244.5 net yards passing.  The Vikings WRs need to catch the ball as they’ve suffered a ton of drops this season.

The QB that plays better will win this football game and I can make an arguement for either QB playing the better game.  This is a toss-up!

The Vikings are in a tough situation at QB.  Should they stay with the fading veteran (Brad Johnson), insert a young QB that the traded for (Brooks Bollinger) or go with the rookie Tavaris Jackson?  It will be interesting to see how the Vikings answer that important question.

Brad Johnson started off the season well, but he’s starting to look his age.  Johnson doesn’t have the arm strength to pound the ball down the field and opposing safeties are starting to creep up and take away the short passing game.  Johnson had completed 63.2% of his passes for 1,620 yards passing with only 4 TDs and 8 INTs.  Johnson has a QB rating of 73.1 which is a little below average.  Johnson has played his worst two games of the season the last two weeks.  The Vikings have only scored 10 points in the last two weeks and 7 of those points were on a punt return TD. 

Brooks Bollinger mopped up against the Patriots, but he didn’t look that good either.  Bollinger completed 6 of 9 passes for 76 yards and an INT.  Bollinger is more likely to replace Johnson than Jackson  because of his experience and the fact that the Vikings are still in the playoff hunt, thanks to their fine defense.

I don’t understand when you woke up before the season started and looked at the roster I’m sure I’m not the only one who honestly was able to see this is not a SuperBowl contending team Right. So someone explain to me why it is taking this LONG for the people in charge of making the right decisions for the team not to put in the Future of the Franchise. It is not just us and I say US because I really enjoy rooting on this team, but the Redskins, Packers, Cowboys & Raiders already made their move to the Future. It makes sense if your not going to the SuperBowl which is what you play the game for, you shold be developing your TALENT (Tavaris Jackson). Not putting in Buce Bollinger was Horrid in his opportunity to take over for Vinny last year. Lets get it together and see if this guy has what it takes to be better than Daunte (Culpepper), and lets give MoMo(Moore) the opportunity to be the first string back, because I been down on this Other guy from the beginning. This other guy got a chance to be player of the week for one run that got him 95yds that 5 out of the 10 good backs in college could have did, other than that not only has he been inconsistant to me he lacks elusiveness that a top 5 back in this game needs to have. I’m sorry if I haven’t been encouraging but when you see things that need to be changed and they aren’t being done somone needs to hear about it. Hey Marcuuss can you hurry back it looks like Troy needs somone to show him how to syay in this leage, you have to CATCH the ball as well as be FAST Troy

Brad Johnson had his second straight horrible football game against the Niners.  Johnson completed 21 of 31 passes for 136 yards and an interception.  Johnson also lost 2 fumbles in the game!  Chester Taylor carried the ball 26 times for 96 yards (3.7 ypc) and caught 8 passes for 45 yards.  Atrose Pinner carried the ball 3 times for 29 yards (9.7 ypc). 

EJ Henderson (8 tackles) and Dontarrious Thomas (7 tackles and a sack) led a great effort by the Vikings defense.  The Vikings stuffed the Niners running game, holding them to 42 yards on 26 carries (1.6 ypc).  The Niners completed 13 of 21 passes for 91 net yards passing.

The Vikings better fix their offense soon, or their season will be over.