Week 17 Thoughts

Goodbye Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

The Minnesota Vikings have always had one of the worst stadiums in the league. Metropolitan Stadium was a stadium from another era of football. Now, it's a great big mall. The Metrodome was cheaply made and it often showed. What takes place in a football stadium is always the most important thing. 32 years of memories makes it sad to say good-bye to the dump. I'll miss that place just like I've always missed itty-bitty Metropolitan Stadium.

The new stadium is going to be fantastic.

The Metrodome was closed with a Vikings win. They defeated the Detroit Lions 14-13. The Lions played the first half as if they had already left for an offseason vacation. They played like they have since nearly everyone had given them the NFC North title a few weeks ago. The Vikings started the second half as if they had already left for an offseason vacation. Rookie receiver Cordarrelle Patterson was the difference for the Vikings in scoring both touchdowns. The Vikings defense made some plays in the fourth quarter to end any chance for a Lions comeback. Vikings close the 2013 NFL season and the last season at the Metrodome at 5-10-1.

Patterson scored on a 50-yard run and an 8-yard reception. He showed what he can do with the ball in his hands on the long run. He showed the matchup problems that he brings in the pass game with his size. He may have shown the most on a short run in the fourth quarter. He was rocked by 300+-pound defensive tackle Nick Fairly short of the first down. Patterson didn't really seem too fazed by the hit. There might not be another receiver in the league that would still be on his feet after that hit. Patterson not only stayed on his feet he got the first down. It was one of the most impressive plays by the rookie in a season filled with impressive plays. He's going to be a nightmare for opponents for the rest of his, hopefully long, Vikings career.

As the '90s came to a close, the Vikings had one of the best trio of receivers in league history. Cris Carter is in the Hall of Fame. Randy Moss will be. Jake Reed had a string of 1000-yard seasons. He was in the shadow of his teammates but was one of the best deep threats in the league. Since those days, the Vikings have struggled to maintain anything close to a consistent receiving threat. Three of their most promising receivers didn't stay long in Minnesota. For whatever reason those promising receivers ended up in Seattle. Nate Burleson showed potential. He left for Seattle as a restricted free agent. Sidney Rice was dynamite while catching passes from Bret Favre. He left for Seattle as an unrestricted free agent. Percy Harvin was one of the most explosive football players in the game. He was traded to Seattle this past offseason. The Vikings have had some difficulties at the receiver position since the days of Carter, Moss, and Reed. The long, sad receiver may be at an end.

The Vikings top returning receivers are Greg Jennings, Cordarrelle Patterson, and Jarius Wright. Jennings is still a very good-to-great receiver. He was extremely productive when the Vikings finally settled on Matt Cassel at quarterback. He's a leader and an extremely productive receiver. Patterson has shown that he has everything necessary to be a superstar. His future is very bright. Wright is an underrated, talented pass catcher. He made Richard Sherman look foolish on a long touchdown reception against the Seahawks. The wildcard in the Vikings receiver group is Greg Childs. He hasn't played since he tore the patellar tendon in both knees during a scrimmage in his first training camp in 2012. No one has ever been able to return to the field from such an injury. Childs has busted his ass to be the first. He should be cleared for all football activities this offseason. He has the size and skills to provide the sort of deep threat that the Vikings have missed since Sidney Rice. Receiver has been a weakness for a while in Minnesota. It's a strength now.

It was a real disappointment to not see Adrian Peterson run once more on the Metrodome turf. Backup Toby Gerhart was also out for the game. That led to the second start for Matt Asiata. He scored three touchdowns in his first start. He didn't get in the endzone this time but he got a lot more yards. 115 yards on 14 carries. Outside of Patterson, Asiata was the offensive star of the game for the Vikings.

Vikings defensive end Jared Allen has two receiving touchdowns in his career. He scored both while he was with the Kansas City Chiefs. He should have had the third receiving touchdown of his career yesterday. He was wide open in the end zone. Cassel missed him wide right.

Speaking of big guys scoring touchdowns, New York Jets rookie defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson scored his second rushing touchdown of the season. Most impressive.

Injuries to the Vikings secondary forced defensive back Robert Blanton into the nickel spot. For the past few weeks that's been, at best, a disaster. I thought that Blanton played a nice game yesterday. He played corner at Notre Dame. The Vikings moved him to safety. Hopefully, that position movement was the reason for his struggles the past few weeks. Hopefully, his play yesterday was a better indication of his abilities.

If the Vikings defense had handled Lions running back Reggie Bush in week one more like they did in week 17, this season might have been very different. Maybe. Maybe not. Anyway, except for a missed tackle on a touchdown reception, the Vikings defense did a terrific job against Bush. Without all-world receiver Calvin Johnson, the Lions only real threat on offense was Bush. The Vikings did a nice job of taking him out of the game.

The Lions have one of the best defensive lines in the league. The Vikings offensive line did pretty well against them. The Lions sacked Cassel three times but he had nice time in the pocket. Vikings left tackle Matt Kalil had a pretty rough sophomore season. I thought that he was great yesterday. The Lions line did most of it's damage knocking down passes.

The Lions really did look like a team that's finishing out a disappointing season. The Vikings weren't much better but they showed much more life. More energy. The play of Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford down the stretch this season has to be a concern. Maybe a new coaching staff will give him a spark. I've often seen him look great. He looked very disinterested yesterday. No matter the situation, you never want to see that sort of thing from a team leader.

The Minnesota Vikings will have the eighth pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. #8 feels very late for a five-win-one-tie team. It's far too early for any valid thoughts on the draft but I like the linebackers Khalil Mack of Buffalo and C.J. Mosley of Alabama, Notre Dame defensive tackle Louis Nix III, or Michigan St. corner Darqueze Denard with that first pick. The Vikings need a quarterback but I think that the Vikings go defense with, at least, their first pick. Unless, they really fall for Johnny Manziel between now and May.

The Houston Texans lost themselves into the first pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. This is the second year in a row that a very talented team stumbled through a season to "earn" the first pick. The Kansas City Chiefs had more Pro Bowl players than wins last year. The Texans only have two Pro Bowl players this year but they entered the season as a serious Super Bowl contender. The influx of elite talent could allow the Texans to rebound much like the Chiefs.

In my lifetime, I've seen the Vikings play in January far more often than not. It's always sad to see a season end without the Vikings being part of the postseason party. This season might be more difficult than most. Most indications are that head coach Leslie Frazier will be fired. Defensive linemen Jared Allen and Kevin Williams are free agents. It's just difficult to imagine the Vikings defensive front without Allen and Williams. It's difficult to imagine Allen and Williams on another team.

For some reason, Deion Sanders seems to have some animosity towards the San Francisco 49ers. He played one season in San Francisco but was the defensive player of the year and won a Super Bowl. Maybe all those years with the Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys wiped out the fond feelings of that one season by the bay. Both the Falcons and Cowboys had fierce battles with the 49ers. Maybe I'm hearing something that's really not there but whenever Sanders mentions the 49ers there's something negative in the tone.

It's great to see Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers back on the football field.

Rodgers threw an interception in the end zone to end an early Packers scoring threat. Rodgers threw that interception to fellow Cal Golden Bear Chris Conte.

The Packers first touchdown was pretty squirrely. Just shows that you play until there's a whistle. Packers kept playing. Bears stopped playing. Packers scored a touchdown.

A couple weeks ago, it was reported by some NFL "insider" that New York Jets coach Rex Ryan informed his team that he wouldn't be back next season. Now, it appears that Ryan will be back. Too often the race to break news leads to wrong news being reported.

The Cleveland Browns didn't even wait a day to fire Rob Chudzinski after only one season. Jimmy Haslam has owned the Browns for about one year and a couple of months and has fired two coaches. The Browns are spinning their wheels. Even though there are only 32 NFL head coaching jobs on the planet I can't imagine many coaches jumping in line for a shot at the Browns.

Matt Forte is a really good running back.

Congratulations, again, to Peyton Manning on breaking the single-season touchdown record that he broke last week. He also broke the single-season passing yards record held by Drew Brees. Manning had more touchdown passes than incompletions against the Oakland Raiders yesterday. Four touchdowns to only three incompletions. Amazing.

The Packers welcomed receiver Randall Cobb back from the injured list as well as Rodgers. That's a big boost. I don't care if Cobb just returned from the injured list. There's no way that the Bears can let him run alone like that. They can't can't do it in the middle of the game. They definitely can't do it with about forty seconds to play. That blown coverage gave the Packers the NFC North.

Rodgers, with a game under him, makes the Packers a tough out in the playoffs. The 49ers have their work cut out for them next week.

The work that the New England Patriots put in this season was simply amazing. The injuries, on both sides of the ball, should bury a team. Somehow, they earned one of the first round byes. The Patriots kept finding a way to win. I don't know how far they go in the playoffs but I don't think any team is too thrilled about playing them.

I think that the better team won but it sure feels like the Philadelphia Eagles got lucky against the Dallas Cowboys.

Congratulations to all the teams moving on to the playoffs.