A week after Packer coach Mike McCarthy’s second-half gameplan against the bears was called “the worst ever seen,” Vikings coach Brad Childress did his best to eclipse McCarthy’s stupidity in Sunday’s game against the bears.
Some examples of Childress’ coaching genius:
- He punted to Devin Hester in a scoreless first quarter, and Hester ran it back to give the bears a 7-0 lead and some momentum. What will it take until coaches learn to not allow the bears’ special teams and defense to beat them (since their offense goes nowhere), and how many returns will Hester have before teams stop kicking to him? The bear offense had not sustained a drive up to that point. Yes, Lovie Smith was just as stupid to kick to Adrian Peterson after the bears tied it late.
- After the Vikings tied the game at 7, the bears completed a first-down bomb to Berrian for a TD. I’ve talked about this play since early last year and the fact that other teams don’t seem to get it, and the fact that it’s almost always to Berrian. This is what turned the Seahawks playoff game around last year, and finally, after the Super Bowl, Colts defensive coordinator Ron Meeks said of Grossman, “He likes to go deep on first down, so we let him throw into our Cover Two, sometimes even a three deep with the corners back and a safety in the middle. That made it very rough for him.” I realize Griese was the quarterback, but the offensive coordinator is the same. This put the bears back in the lead, 14-7.
- The bears were down by 14 points with about 2:50 to play (instead of about 28 points due to the punt to Hester), so the only thing that could have hurt the Vikings was quick-score big plays. If you don’t give up the big play and play defense accordingly, you force the bears to use a lot of clock even if they score. So, what do the Vikings do? They allow a long pass play for a touchdown to pull the bears within 7 points, and then allow an 81-yard bomb for a TD to tie the game in the last minute-and-a-half! Against any team, you have to defense the big play in this situation, and especially against the bears, who don’t have an offense capable of sustaining a long drive. This coaching decision was inexcusable, and to do it twice!
- At the end of the game, when the Vikings were driving for the winning field goal, they threw a pass on second-and-five, when they were already in field goal range and they have a quarterback who can’t pass and hadn’t played in a while. How can you jeopardize the winning field goal? The pass was nearly intercepted, which could have cost them the game.
A few comments on how the Viking players tried to give the bears the game:
- With the Vikings up by two touchdowns and about 2:45 left, Griese threw a pass right to a Viking defender with no one near him. If he catches it, game over. He dropped it, and the bears scored two touchdowns to tie the game.
- The Viking receivers dropped a number of passes, some of which could have gone a long way.
- With 3:08 left and the Vikings up by two touchdowns, the Viking running back ran out of bounds on 3rd and 8, stopping the clock.