I will discuss what happened in today’s Viking-Packer game, which is what I say can happen when Childress has a ridiculous gameplan. Those who just look at stats will say Favre had a bad game. If you look at why things happened, it will be obvious as to why things went the way they did. Here are the facts:
1. Vikings ran on first down on their first possession, and punted.
2. Vikings got down to the Packer 11 on their second possession, then ran on first down to settle for a field goal. In last week’s game against the bears, the Vikings drove deep into bear territory on their first two drives, then ran on first and second downs, settling for FG attempts. Childress didn’t learn from that (and countless other examples), and instead of going for TDs and setting an aggressive tone for the game, and gaining momentum and putting pressure on the opponent, he settled for FGs, playing passively, which of course carries over to the defense.
3. After the Packers kicked a FG to tie the game at three, Vikings ran on first down and punted, rather than trying to come back with a score.
4. The Packers threw on EVERY DOWN for 2 straight drives, scoring a TD on both drives to go up 17-3.
5. Prior to the second Packer TD, Favre threw an interception. This followed 6 straight first-down runs, and 9 of 11, which is why the Vikings only had 3 points. This is when I’ve always said he throws his interceptions–when the gameplan is conservative and they are not scoring as a result, and he puts pressure on himself to try to make something happen.
6. I’ve always said the tone of games is set in the first half, and in games Favre plays when they run a pass-first offense, he and his teams do very well, and when his teams run a run-first offense, his teams will struggle. In this game, the Vikings ran on 11 of 16 first-half first downs. This strategy prevented the Vikings from scoring early, building a lead, and gaining momentum, and let the Packers hang around and gain confidence. The Packers had 8 yards of offense in the first quarter, but were only down 3-0 because Childress did not try to score.
7. The Vikings could have won easily had they been aggressive, as could be said for the bear game last week where they could have been up 28-0 in the first half, despite the fact Favre is playing with a hurt throwing shoulder, tendinitis in his throwing elbow, and a double-fractured ankle, he is under constant pressure and not getting much protection, and his receivers are hurt.
8. I’ve said for a long time that teams should punt every time 35-40 yards very high, forcing fair catches and not allowing returns, and should deep squib kick or kick high and short to prevent kickoff returns. The Packers did kick high and short to avoid Harvin having long returns, and it worked every time. Yet, you’ll still see teams kicking to Hester!!
9. In today’s Colt-Patriot game, the Patriots were up 3 at the end. Brady threw a ball right to the Colt linebacker with no receiver around, which could easily have cost them the game, but the linebacker dropped it. The Patriots punted, Manning drove the Colts into tying FG range, then threw an interception right to the Patriot defender, with no receiver around, costing his team the game. I see this all the time watching various games, but all I hear about is Favre’s interceptions. I guess people hold him to a standard of perfection.