Ive been busy, but I finally tallied the scores. Only 3 other DN folks joined, maybe next year will be better. But the four of us all had the testuicular fortitude/girth to put our prediction up against ESPN knowing we would be mocked, judged and burned at the stake (only one DN reader had the Vikes in the playoffs)

I needed to alter the scoring to put us fairly against the ESPN "gurus" because they did not predict the championship games.

So the new point scheme as follows

1 point for each playoff team correctly identified

10 points for the AFC/NFC Champ

25 points for the SB Champ (No points were awarded for this category)

The Original Post:

Lame Espn Outlook, our own Playoff Game

http://espn.go.com/nfl/preview11/story/_/id/6885090/espn-experts-nfl-predictions-2011

Here is the annual list of the predictions of the talking heads in espn. If you havent already guessed they stick to favorites and vanilla picks. I thought it could be fun if we all put our vision in the comments. Then re-reviewed them post superbowl (provided I remember) perhaps we give points (similar to a march madness bracket) and crown the newest best-est football guru.

The BEST part is Fantasy will be over and I for one still like to play a game when watching games.

Because of the bye weeks, the best way I considered points were:

1 point per team you correctly guessed makes the playoffs

1 point per team you have in the correct spot of order for finish (say team-x makes the fifth seed, you guess team-x would finish there, you get one additional point possible 12)

5 points per team to make the championship game

10 points per team to make the superbowl

25 points correct guess of team to win superbowl

*If scoring seems weird, I am open for editing the scoring system

(Maybe there is already a site that tracks this for us (yahoo?) so if anyone knows it, we could migrate that a ways)

I will be the first to comment and perhaps you could all follow the same format that would be helpful.

AFC Team #1, AFC Team #2, AFC Team #3, AFC Team #4, AFC Team #5, AFC Team #6

AFC Teams in AFCCG

AFC Super Bowl Team

SUPERBOWL WINNER (CAPS)

NFC Super Bowl Team

NFC Teams in NFCCG

NFC Team #1, NFC Team #2, NFC Team #3, NFC Team #4, NFC Team #5, NFC Team #6

Continue reading this post »

Stadium this stadium that! I am sick of the taxpayers having to front the bill to make Wilfy richer! Our current economic climate sucks, our current government environment sucks, blah blah blah.

Look. Stadiums are expensive. There is a reason everyone here wanted the bill to NOT go to the public, as it would've failed. So I have some important questions I want answered. I have tried a few times to get answers, but I failed to follow through and/or were NOT satisfied with the answers.

Everyone says the Dome sucks ass. But I wondered why. Odin tried to help me, but only made things worse.

1- Why the hell cant they play in the TCF bank stadium? I dont buy the no alcohol reasoning because the 300+ million dollars zig wants to put in could easily fix that, as well as additional seating (tcf was designed to make expansion a possibility mind you) as well as "warming field" ability for cold weather games. The gophers have and likely will continue to suck (i am an alum mind you) and expanding will make it no different from when I was a gopher rooting them on in a 50% capacity stadium (the way it is now as I understand at TCF)

2- Why the F cant the dome be renovated? I like the noise, I like being pushed out by the air. The twinkies stadium is just as congested. with Zig's 300+ mil, the suites can be expanded/enhanced. Also this money could make additional seating up front (now that the twinkies got their stadium) making a more personal exp. for fans with $$

3- I cannot/will not buy added capacity. We have a hard enough time filling our mediocre stadium! In fact we do not even have the smallest stadium capacity for NFL teams, the cardinals, raiders, bears and colts hold that "crown" and do we really want to have to beg MORE corporations to buy unsold tickets!?!?!? If you add a mere 2,000 seats, we get to the range of the seahawks, rams, bucs, bengals, steelers, and lions!

4-Parking. Yes it sucks. Tailgating is nonexistent. I do not think it would take much to convert some land to parking/tailgating lots. I thought part of the dome renovation plan included buying out the star tribune offices to convert to tailgating lots?

5-I am sorry, I do not think using tax payer money to make z. wilf richer is in the best interest of MN. I DO NOT want them to leave however and I am torn. So far, I have written to law makers to keep them in MN no matter the cost. I just do not understand why everyone is hating on the dome so much. It works. We have a home field advantage. Why not put on a fresh coat of paint?

If MPLS wants to give it to Wilf, why not take it and make the changes? HUGE benefit for everyone involved I think. Don't even try stadium envy crap. Ive been to "the best" at Lambeau where I had to sit on a bench in the freezing weather and park on some GB fans lawn for twenty bucks. No thanks. Also I can agree about temporary jobs, but it has been proven that sports stadiums offer little to zero economic benfits for the state/city...

http://www.swcollege.com/bef/policy_debates/stadiums.html

http://www.icic.org/connections/blog-entry/blog-an-economic-development-case-for-building-sports-stadiumsor-not

http://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/re/articles/?id=468

Everyone is so ready to get on the Dome sucks wagon without even second guessing it. Maybe I need some convincing...

Well. I guess Leslie frazier is trying to get andrew luck. How else can the vikings explain 3 first half dominations and 3 second half pathetic eerily similar collapses? That must be because we want/need luck. Donovan McNabb needs to be cut, Bernard Berrian needs to be cut, we need a QB, a deep threat WR.

Kudos to the defense, I have enjoyed watching them play, it is not their fault for the three losses. They have performed, they simply cannot be on the field that long. I blame the offense. Who's fault is it? Offensive players or the coaching? I cannot tell. Something tell me it is a bit of both.

Skol!! We always have next year...

http://espn.go.com/nfl/preview11/story/_/id/6885090/espn-experts-nfl-predictions-2011

Here is the annual list of the predictions of the talking heads in espn. If you havent already guessed they stick to favorites and vanilla picks. I thought it could be fun if we all put our vision in the comments. Then re-reviewed them post superbowl (provided I remember) perhaps we give points (similar to a march madness bracket) and crown the newest best-est football guru.

The BEST part is Fantasy will be over and I for one still like to play a game when watching games.

Because of the bye weeks, the best way I considered points were:

1 point per team you correctly guessed makes the playoffs

1 point per team you have in the correct spot of order for finish (say team-x makes the fifth seed, you guess team-x would finish there, you get one additional point possible 12)

5 points per team to make the championship game

10 points per team to make the superbowl

25 points correct guess of team to win superbowl

*If scoring seems weird, I am open for editing the scoring system

(Maybe there is already a site that tracks this for us (yahoo?) so if anyone knows it, we could migrate that a ways)

I will be the first to comment and perhaps you could all follow the same format that would be helpful.

AFC Team #1, AFC Team #2, AFC Team #3, AFC Team #4, AFC Team #5, AFC Team #6

AFC Teams in AFCCG

AFC Super Bowl Team

SUPERBOWL WINNER (CAPS)

NFC Super Bowl Team

NFC Teams in NFCCG

NFC Team #1, NFC Team #2, NFC Team #3, NFC Team #4, NFC Team #5, NFC Team #6

I am in a fantasy league and was wondering if anyof you have or plan to take a certain Kyle Rudolph. I like my team quite a bit, but my current TE is Pettigrew. He is already listed as questionable and I will a flyer for the bye week. From my understanding he will likely see some time and split receptions with Shank. However Shank might be down, which (I think) puts Jimmy on blocking duty.

Im curious because I havent been able to see alot of game fottage and was wondering if all the praise he has been getting during camp might translate more quickly than one could hope for. Of course all the other members are either Vikings fans, or NFC north fans and I do not believe he will last long if he has a good game.

On a final note, my deep sleeper projection (you can even get him after the draft in a week or two) but dont take too long.... IS.....Eric Decker. I watched that guy rip it up in Minney and if he can get through an injury free year he will become a great target for Orton.

My Roster, if youre curious ( I know I always choose too many WRs, I dont like it either)

Freeman/Stafford

MJD, Hillis (curse be damned), Ingram, Helu

Manningham, Nicks Harvin, Aj Green,  Devon Bess, Jacoby Ford, MSW

Pettigrew

Vikings D/ST

Alex Henerey

I am excited to see football again as I am sure the rest of you are. Tonight's game has some interest to us purple people as a few vikings players/staff have made their way over to the seahawks. My question to you is how do you all feel about them now that they have gone?

I would have made multiple polls, however it appears that one is the maximum per FanPost

Anyway, TJAX is an interesting option at quarterback, I never thought he'd start again personally. However Zach Miller, and confident Sidney Rice could make the difference. Lets not forget he has the coaching staff's approval for some reason. These could equate success, but I am cautious.

With Rice, I feel a little slighted by him still. The surgery followed by taking off and needing a fresh start came off poorly to me. He may have wanted to leave to avoid criticism from us MN fans.

Bevell I could care less about, he scored us some players I wanted over the years based on prior relationships but never did anything I disliked other than a boring looking offense.

Anyway I am curious how you feel, have at it.

A little curious how those Locker backers would have gone in the first round in the draft after watching Locker go in the first round to the Titans and seeing Gabby falling oh so close to us in the draft. My question for all you fellow Daily Norseman/Norsewomen (insert sexy growl here) is who you would have gone with if you were in charge.

I remember that most here wanted locker for some reason and many were upset at first about ponder, but how would you have played it?

Eliminating of course Newton (thank god) Locker (thank god X2) and gabbert (thank god X3) what would you do in the little time you have, also, trading back is not an option, as they tried and failed at that....

With the ongoing discussion about the new vikings stadium, I for one, am interested in finding out what other like minded Viking fans desire as an ideal situation for the new stadium. I added the blaine option below because I think its an interesting idea complete with pros and cons.

I bring this up because I was reminded about an article I read, probably off this site that claimed superbowl teams that had an outdoor home stadium had a better chance at winning because they knew how to overcome more obstacles (wind, rain, snow etc) and domed teams suffered because they couldnt adapt as quickly as these outdoor stadium teams. The numbers they showed were impressive.

Lets assume for the purposes of this poll, that the vikings will use a pick for a quaterback. Let us also assume that all quaterbacks are available (perhaps we trade up, perhaps we trade down) So who do you choose? You are the scout, gm and head coach and know who is best for the team.

Take whatever criteria you'd like to evaluate, but I would urge you to consider things like if you wanted cam newton, realistically we'd have to trade up. If you liked Locker, we may be able to preserve our first rounder for someone else.

Chilly to be interviewed for Offensive Coordinator in Miami reports BSPN....

Really Miami? Of all the complaints I personally had with Childress it was the vanilla style offense he put on the field. Maybe he will bring in T-Jack from the FA market. HAHAHAHA!

Here is a link to the story.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6017674

Wilfs favorite part:

"Childress is owed $3 million the next two seasons by Minnesota. If he accepts a job with another team, whatever he is paid will be subtracted from what the Vikings owe him."

IMO, there is no way takes this position, he had the head gig and probably wants another if not more. Plus he gets 2 years to sit around and collect $

You are the new interim head coach. Your aging quaterback is not a long term solution for the team. You are using the rest of the season as an interview to show other teams or to try and keep your job as the vikings head coach. Your predecessor's qb project had a good game against a crappy team. Provided Favre is "healthy" you have one difficult decision to make. I am aware that if Favre gets the okay he will play, but in a your the head-coach role play, what does purple nation do?

Think about it for a little while. Both players had great potential in their youth. As they aged they grew into their own and the self awareness only made things worse. TO and Randy both burned some bridges and apparently have hard times to find new teams. I was a little shocked to discover that Randy Moss had to go all the way down to the titans. He is, similar to to, making sure that his reputation is overshadowing his talent. And that is a sad statement. Why is it so hard to play the game like a professional? While I still wish he was a viking, a big part of me takes pleasure in knowing the bum got what he deserved.

That was an awful game to watch. The vikings at least got it together enough to in the second half to rip our hearts out at the end of the game. In my opinion, the blame falls to a couple of things, the below follows only for offense as the defense has played superbly, sure there are gaps (where are you allen?) and errors, but until the offense gets it going, the defense gets two giant gold stars!

Coaching- How can you be unprepared for a game that you had 15 days to prepare for? Unacceptable. Chilly needs to take the fall for that one. There is no excuse for this, and historically the vikings have come out of the bye week swinging, and this was a potential turning point for the team, too bad we had our head up or arse for most of the game.

Favre- COME ON MAN!!!!!   Sure your elbow hurts, cry me a river, you missed throws flat out. If you cant make those throws, sit down and let our semi-proficient, yet healthy backup make those plays for you. You had better not pull the same stuff you did with the jets! You are lucky our receivers can pull down the garbage you threw them last night. Lets not forget the other distraction, you are a L7 wiener for any distraction that you caused the team. You fumbled, threw pics, and have yet to show the team why you belong on the roster. Though I am not a fan of peyton, I admire the heck out of him for his offseason work.

This just in: Training camp has a purpose. I was angry at you last year, and you were fortunate to have cupcakes early. But now, you look weak and frustrated. I dont know how you are going to fix this, but you have to turn it around asap. The "dont know my receivers" bit is getting old, I give you a pass with moss, but you already know harvin, shank, lewis, and berrian. If you dont, maybe you should have went to camp. Yes I know harvin was out, and maybe others, but you could have found a diamond in the rough, as they claim you can, during camp, instead of during games. It is plausible to see the need for a receiver in camp and make a move sooner, right?

A superbowl caliber team needs to beat good teams. People are calling it chemistry, or lack thereof, last night was a chance to come together, similar to how I saw the team pull a miracle against the 49ers last year. I have not given up. I am confident this team will be an amazing spectacle. Unstoppable. The sooner they find their mojo, the better the chance we can make a deep push into the post season. The team could use an enormous win over a team, any team. To me, an absolute butt kicking would transform the team, giving them the confidence they desperately need.

so i have a problem of wanting to stream the game online tomorrow, as the game is not going to be broadcast here in WI (same time and channel as pack) if any of you happen to know of a decent quality free stream of the game i would be forever grateful. problem also is I will be in attendance at a packers get together. i would prefer to not be cussing at my laptop as the game freezes/people start yelling etc. hope you can help a purple WI resident get his fix! I will be using channelsurfing.net as default...

thanks, and skol!

This always cheers me up

well, in order to fulfill the 75 long word requirement:

I was wondering if you all thought MN had anything to do with players and their choices...I thought I picked up some crazy notion that LT and wife like the NYC area more than MN. While I would generally agree, does this play a role in landing top free agents? Do people generally think we are a barren wasteland full of ice? If I were an NFL star and had the choice of two losing championship caliber teams, I too would rather spend 21 weeks in NYC...

Just a thought.

Pretty easy determination based on quantity alone, not to mention starters...

*Break Down of the two teams, Starters in Bold

1996 Green Bay Packers

QB Brett Favre

SS LeRoy Butler

TE Keith Jackson

C Frank Winters

LDE Reggie White

2009-2010 Minnesota Vikings

RB Adrian Peterson

OG Steve Hutchinson

DE Jared Allen

DT Kevin Williams

OT Bryant McKinnnie

QB Brett Favre

WR Sidney Rice

ST Heath Farwell

Havent looked to deeply, but was there a team with more talent according to pro bowl selections under qb favre? I felt this was a legitimate test of talent. Case Closed.

In Lieu of the Packers recent success, I feared facing them a third time because of a rumor of how hard it is to win three times. Apparently (see below) that is not the case. I still fear the packers for one sole reason: SHAME. Sure I think they could do it. But if the vikings were dealt an upset, WI would never let it go. We still laugh about their loss to us in 2004, how would they handle a playoff win given the circumstances.....

Found this online from the AP

Associated Press

Since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, there have been 18 times when a team went into a playoff game with a chance to complete a three-game season sweep, according to STATS, Inc. Those teams are 11-7. Here are the previous matchups, with the team that won both regular-season games listed first, along with the postseason result: