Week 17 Thoughts

The Minnesota Vikings defeated the Chicago Bears 13-9. Explosive.

The Vikings end the 2014 season at 7-9. The Bears finish at 5-11. It's a difference of only two games but these two teams are in completely different situations. The Vikings have a great deal of hope and promise moving forward. They lost more games than they won but this was a productive season. The Bears are a mess. Rumors are spreading that head coach Marc Trestman and his staff could be gone soon. Quarterback Jay Cutler's talent is being eclipsed by questions.

If Trestman is fired, it's unfortunate. He waited so long for an NFL head coaching job. He's a terrific football coach. Some speculate that he lost the locker room. But who really knows? He earned his shot at leading his own team. For as long as he's waited, two years doesn't feel like a fair shot but the NFL is a win now league and it's rarely fair.

This was the Vikings first win against a division foe this season. That's not good. Every division game is a must-win game. Going 1-5 within the division is unacceptable.

Vikings rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has been playing fantastic for about a month. He didn't play as fantastic yesterday but he played like a franchise quarterback that was having a good, safe game. He controlled the game. He completed 17 of 25 passes for 209 yards and a 44-yard touchdown to Adam Thielen. The one blemish was an interception that Bears rookie corner Kyle Fuller nearly returned for a touchdown.

This was the second game in a row that Bridgewater has thrown an interception that should have been a reception. Last week against the Miami Dolphins, running back Matt Asiata bobbled a short pass that ended up in the hands of a defender. Yesterday, receiver Cordarrelle Patterson bobbled a pass right into the hands of Fuller.

Bridgewater threw 12 interceptions on the season. Nearly half, five, of those came in two of his first three games. His accuracy and ability to keep the ball away from the defense has improved greatly through the season. He's thrown 14 touchdowns. He takes a 10 game touchdown throwing streak into his second season.

Having a young quarterback that can control the game and lead his team to wins is a very good thing to have.

The Vikings have been able to manufacture a running game despite missing Adrian Peterson for all but one game. It hasn't been pretty very often but the running game has done enough to keep the defense aware of it. Earlier in the season, Matt Asiata and rookie Jerick McKinnon shared the load. Then McKinnon claimed the majority of the carries due to his explosiveness. He suffered a back injury and was placed on injured reserve. Asiata took over and bulled his way for productive yards. He probably played his best game of the year yesterday. He even broke some runs of more than 10 yards. He finished with 91 yards on 19 carries.

Asiata has done a lot of good things this year. I addition to his tough running he has have provided some production in the passing game. But, he has had some brutal drops and bobbles. The worst being the bobbled pass and interception last week. He's dropped some passes with open field ahead of him. He's got to remember to secure that ball before he runs with it.

The Vikings entered the game with Gerald Hodges, Jasper Brinkley, Audie Cole, and Josh Kaddu as the only active and healthy linebackers. A little scary but they did fine. They were helped by the Bears offense being in something of a funk. Cole made a handful of terrific plays. Two on the Bears first possession of the game. Stops that played a huge role in forcing a punt. He also had a nice deflection of a pass to Bears back Matt Forte on a critical third down in the 4th quarter.

Linebacker will be a position that the Vikings will likely look to improve in the offseason. Rookie Anthony Barr looked like an impact playmaker before his season was ended with a knee injury. A knee injury that requires only minor surgery to fix. Barr's linebacker role is the only one that's certain. Veteran Chad Greenway or 2nd-year Gerald Hodges will likely fight for the other outside spot. A middle linebacker could be a first round target in the draft. Audie Cole has done well when given a shot on defense. He has a future with the team. While his play yesterday might give the coaches something to think about it's likely that they see him as providing depth on defense and playing a significant role on special teams.

Vikings 2nd-year corner Xavier Rhodes has been one of the best in the game over the past couple of months. He's spent most of the season lined up on the right side of the defense. When they faced the Detroit Lions a few weeks ago he was asked to travel with Calvin Johnson. The Lions had to use special formations and tactics to peal Rhodes off of Johnson to get receptions for their star. It looks like isolating Rhodes on the opponent's top receiver is more than a one game thing. He stayed on Bears giant receiver Alshon Jeffery yesterday. In the first Bears game Jeffery destroyed the Vikings. Josh Robinson just couldn't match up with him. Yesterday Jeffery had two catches for 34 yards.

It was great to see Vikings defensive end Corey Wootton get his first sack of the season but his sack dance(?) really needs to be sacked.

It didn't result in points but the Vikings 13-play drive in the fourth quarter secured the win. They ate up six minutes and forced the Bears to use all three of their timeouts. The drive ended on the Bears three-yard line when the Vikings were stopped on 4th and inches. The stop was disappointing but the long, time-consuming drive sealed the game.

The Vikings defense prevented the Bears from scoring a touchdown. The last time that the Vikings prevented a team from scoring a touchdown was in week 1 against the St. Louis Rams.

Bridgewater's freshman year stats at Louisville:
64.5% comp./14-12 TD-Int./7.2 yards per attempt
Bridgewater's rookie year stats:
64.4%/14-12 TD-Int./7.3 yards per attempt
That's incredible. Bridgewater got decidedly better each year in college. Hopefully the same pattern follows in the NFL.

Bridgewater gave the game ball to head coach Mike Zimmer for his first division win. The media asked him why he didn't keep the ball. "It was your first division win as well." Bridgewater said that he was more excited for Zimmer. Nice.

I really like this Bridgewater kid.

The San Diego Chargers were in the perfect spot. They only had to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs to secure the playoffs. And the Chiefs were starting Chase Daniel at quarterback. Instead the Chargers lose 19-7. Unbelievable.

The Baltimore Ravens took advantage of the Chargers inability to win and grabbed that last playoff spot in the AFC. For most of their game against the Cleveland Browns the Ravens didn't look much like a team that wanted to play football in January. They needed 17 4th quarter points to beat the Browns 20-10.

That puts three AFC North teams in the playoffs. Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, and Baltimore Ravens.

The AFC playoff picture looks like this.
1. New England Patriots
2. Denver Broncos
3. Pittsburgh Steelers
4. Indianapolis Colts
5. Cincinnati Bengals
6. Baltimore Ravens

Wild Card games:
Ravens at Steelers
Bengals at Colts

The Dallas Cowboys were the only team that played like they wanted to enter the playoffs with some momentum. They took apart the Washington Redskins 44-17. The Cowboys are playing well on offense. Quarterback Tony Romo might be playing the best football of his career. He has to carry that into the playoffs.

New York Giants rookie receiver Odell Beckham has simply exploded on the NFL scene. Eli Manning targeted him 21 times yesterday. That's a lot. Beckham caught 12 of the passes for 185 years. In just over half a season's worth of games it's already gotten to the point that a stat line of 125 yards and a couple of touchdowns is considered routine for the rookie. His presence in the Giants offense has even turned Rueben Randle into the receiver that the Giants had hoped. Randle had 158 yards yesterday. He had 132 yards last week. The Giants 2014 season wasn't great. 6-10. If they can improve the defense this offseason they could be scary. The offense has a lot of firepower. Opponents will be spending all offseason trying to figure out what to do about Beckham.

The AP voters should give Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt more than a cursory thought for the MVP. He's been dominant all season. Three sacks, forced fumble, and a safety yesterday. 20 sacks on the season for the second time in his young career. Pretty routine statistics for the most disruptive defensive player since Lawrence Taylor. Watt has my vote. Wish that I had one.

The Carolina Panthers took apart the Atlanta Falcons for the NFC South title. The Panthers are the first NFC South team to repeat as division champ.

The NFC playoff picture looks like this:
1. Seattle Seahawks
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Dallas Cowboys
4. Carolina Panthers
5. Arizona Cardinals
6. Detroit Lions

Wild Card games:
Lions at Cowboys
Cardinals at Panthers

In short, the Detroit Lions are assholes. Center Dominic Raiola was suspended for yesterday's game for intentionally stomping the ankle of Bears defensive tackle Ego Ferguson last week. Ndamukong Suh took up the slack for Raiola. He stomped the ankle of Aaron Rodgers. What is it with the Lions and ankles? Assholes.

Let the always unfortunate Black Monday begin. It's not just the head coaches that lose their jobs. Most of the assistant coaches are shown the door as well. A lot of families are impacted.