Week 17 Thoughts

Minnesota Vikings. 2015 NFC North Champions. Sounds good.

Sounds real good.

Congratulations to the Vikings on the division title. It starts there.

The Minnesota Vikings ended the Green Bay Packers' 4-year strangle-hold of the NFC North with their 20-13 win over said Packers last night.

Congratulations to Adrian Peterson on his third rushing title. He secured the title before kickoff. His 67 yards against the Packers pushed his league-leading rushing total to 1485 yards. Back spasms in the second half probably kept him from breaking 1500.

The Vikings were up 20-3 early in the fourth quarter. Then they had to go and make things tense.

Well, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers played a big role in making things tense. He brought his team back as he often does.

The Vikings offense did enough but it was their defense that won this game. The defense even scored a touchdown matching the lone offensive touchdown. Defensive end Everson Griffen had a strip sack of Rodgers and corner Captain Munnerlyn scooped up the bounding ball and raced 55 yards for a touchdown and that 20-3 lead.

It looked like the Vikings had sealed the game with just over five minutes to play when Cordarrelle Patterson got loose on a 70-yard kick return. The only problem with the return was that Packers kicker Mason Crosby knocked the ball loose. The kicker! Micah Hyde recovered and the Packers had some life. Again. The kicker!

The Vikings defense was great. The Packers gained 350 yards but most of that total came at desperation time. They sacked Rodgers five times and took the football from him twice on a fumble and an interception.

Cornerback Xavier Rhodes was terrific. His highlights included an interception in the end zone and the deflection of Rodgers' final "Hail Mary" throw to end the game.

Defensive end Everson Griffen had two sacks highlighted by the strip sack that resulted in a Vikings touchdown.

Packers running back Eddie Lacy has bowled over the Vikings in recent games. That didn't happen last night. 13 carries for 34 yards. The Vikings ability to shut down Lacy and the Packers running game was probably the biggest reason for the Vikings first win over Green Bay in three years.

Rookie linebacker Eric Kendricks has played well all season but it seemed that he had leveled off in recent weeks. He was great yesterday.

It wasn't all great news for the Vikings last night. Tight end Rhett Ellison suffered a torn Patellar tendon. Ellison doesn't fill the stat sheets or show up on fantasy football radars but he's a big part of a lot of the things that Vikings do on offense. His loss is a huge loss for the Vikings moving forward in the playoffs.

The Packers only touchdown came on an Aaron Rodgers to Richard Rodgers catch and run. The latter Rodgers still hasn't crossed the goal line.

The Vikings host the Seattle Seahawks next Sunday in the Wild Card round. The Vikings defense played great yesterday but they are going to have to play even better moving forward. It will help greatly if defensive tackle Linval Joseph can return to the lineup. He's been missed in the middle of the defense. The Vikings offense has to play a lot better. They didn't do much on that side of the ball last night. Even though quarterback Teddy Bridgewater threw downfield early in the game the offense played fairly conservatively throughout the game. They seemed to play like an offense that was relying on the defense to win the game.

The Vikings finished their two-year run at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium with best record in league history in a temporary home. That's something.

The Packers lost at home to each of their division foes this season. They hasn't happened since they were known as the Acme Packing Company. Actually, it hasn't happened since 1968. That's still a long time.

The Packers travel to Washington and a Wild Card date with the Redskins.

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers on taking the final AFC playoff spot.

Congratulations to the Tennessee Titans on securing the top pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.

When they lost to a pathetically undermanned Baltimore Ravens team last week I didn't give the Steelers much of a shot at making the playoffs. Closing the season with the Ravens and Cleveland Browns should have been a breeze for the high-flying Steelers. Perhaps they approached those games as the breeze that they appeared to be. But you still have to play them if you want to win them. The Steelers did what they should have done last week when they defeated the Browns yesterday 28-12.

The New York Jets could have been the final AFC team to make the playoff. It seemed like a mere formality after the Steelers stunning loss to the Ravens last week. All the Jets had to do was defeat the Buffalo Bills yesterday. They didn't. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has done what he had to do to win games nearly all season. He didn't do that yesterday. He threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter yesterday. One of which was thrown in the end zone. The Jets loss to the Bills put the Steelers in the playoffs.

This Jets-Bills game was damn-near a Super Bowl game for Bills head coach Rex Ryan. He was coaching the Jets at this time last season. Now he wanted to keep those heartless Jets from their playoff fun. He had his team playing like it was their Super Bowl. Or something close to it.

The New Orleans Saints kept NFC South division rival Atlanta Falcons from a winning record with their 20-17 win. That's about the only thing that came out of this season-ending game for both teams. These two teams dominated the division in recent years. Not so much this year.

The Falcons started the season 5-0. They finished 8-8. Very disappointing.

The Detroit Lions completed a disappointing season with a 24-20 defeat of the Chicago Bears. The Lions had high hopes for 2015 after a playoff appearance last year. An 0-5 start dashed those hopes. They got out of their own way and won seven of their remaining eleven games. That's promising.

The Baltimore Ravens have been hit harder by injuries than any team that I can remember. Their frustrating season finally came to an end in a 24-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Bengals quarterback A.J. McCarron continued his consistent play in place of Andy Dalton.

The Washington Redskins jumped all over the Dallas Cowboys early in staking a  21-0 first quarter lead. The Cowboys kinda made it interesting. This 34-23 Redskins win was only their second on the road this season.

I've seen Redskins receiver Piere Garcon drop a lot of passes over the years but he's made some dandy catches in recent weeks. He added another for a touchdown yesterday.

For most of the season it didn't look like anyone wanted to win the AFC South. The Houston Texans showed that they wanted it the most over the last half of the season going 7-2. They thumped the Jacksonville Jaguars yesterday 30-6 yesterday.

The Indianapolis started Josh Freeman at quarterback!

Josh Freeman!

The last time that we saw Freeman throwing passes in an NFL game most of them landed in the stands. He was surprisingly efficient in a 30-24 win over the Tennessee Titans.

For teams that employ Andrew Luck and Marcus Mariota this Colts-Titans game was a quarterbacking nightmare. Freeman and Ryan Lindley played for the Colts. Alex Tanney and Zach Mettenberger played for the Titans. Oh my.

I don't think that the New England Patriots put much effort in their season finale against the Miami Dolphins. Or, maybe it just looked that way. A 20-10 win for Miami.

Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill was very productive. 25 of 38 for 350 yards and two touchdowns. He spread that production around with eight players catching passes. DeVante Parker, Greg Jennings, and Jarvis Landry each gained over 70 yards. The rookie Parker led the way with five catches for 105 yards and a touchdown.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady passed for only 133 yards and 0 touchdowns. That just doesn't look right.

The most entertaining of the early games was probably the meaningless, in regards to the postseason, game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. A 35-30 Eagles win.

No Chip Kelly.

Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford played well with Pat Schumur calling the offense in place of the deposed Kelly. Bradford was a highly efficient 30 of 38 for 320 yards and two touchdowns. He did throw an interception.

Giants running back Rashad Jennings was great against the Vikings last week. He was even better yesterday. 27 carries for 170 yards and a touchdown.

Did the Arizona Cardinals wrap up their regular season a week early? Whatever their thoughts on the matter they played more like a team that was resting their starters without actually resting their starters. The Seattle Seahawks made it look easy. They coasted into the playoffs with a breezy 36-6 win over their division rivals.

The Carolina Panthers locked up the #1 seed in the NFC with their 38-10 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Buccaneers running back Doug Martin's 48 rushing yards wasn't enough to catch Adrian Peterson for the NFL rushing title.

The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Oakland Raiders to finish the season on a torrid 10-game win streak. The Chiefs are the hottest team in the league. I still can't get over the fact that this team was once 1-5 and more in the hunt for the top pick in the draft than a playoff spot.

Now, the Chiefs are traveling to Houston for a Wild Card playoff game.

The Raiders didn't go quietly in the 23-17 loss.

The Denver Broncos earned the top seed on the AFC side of the playoffs with their 27-20 win over the San Diego Chargers. There was a Peyton Manning sighting in the second half. Manning replaced Brock Osweiler and pulled out the win.

Quarterback controversy in Denver? Who knows? If I was with the Broncos I'd feel better about my playoff chances with Manning in the game. Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak has two weeks before his team plays again.

It's kinda funny that the Broncos went from being in danger of not making the playoffs to the #1 AFC seed in about a week.

The San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams played a thriller. 16-16 at the end of regulation. The Rams had the first opportunity to win it with a field goal but the 49ers blocked the attempt. The 49ers then drove to their own game-winning field goal opportunity. They were successful. And they finished the 2015 season just like they started it. With a win. Unfortunately they won only three of the other 14 games.

The NFL playoffs can't start soon enough.

On a side note. I really like the whimsical Joe Montana that we are seeing in commercials these days. His awkward greeting with Steve Young in the AT&T commercial is hilarious.

Minnesota Vikings. 2015 NFC North Champs!