The wackiest of all the NFL's 2010 train wrecks scores a thrilling overtime win
By Jason Gay
The Wall Street Journal
Monday, November 8, 2010
They have a quarterback who's so old, he has thrown touchdown passes to Percy Harvin and Henry Fonda.
They traded for a controversial wide receiver—only to cut him when he acted controversially.
They have a coach who gets fired on the Internet at least nine times a day.
They are the Most Interesting 3-5 Football Team in the World.
They are the magnetic but underachieving Minnesota Vikings, and to call them a soap opera is to be highly charitable to the authors of soap operas. Not even the most gifted TV scribe could compose such a bizarre script. After a dramatic run to the NFC Championship Game last year, the Vikings dragged Brett Favre out of his self-imposed retirement home, hoping he'd make one last Super Bowl push.
Instead, the 2010 Vikings have been shredded by injuries, painful losses and acid, in-house dissension. Mr. Favre has played erratically, squabbled with head coach Brad Childress, and gotten himself tangled in weird allegations from his 2008 lost season with the New York Jets. Randy Moss came and went after a calamitous four-game cameo that reportedly included a rude insult of a Vikings team caterer.
To cap it off, Mr. Childress had a lively disagreement with Mr. Harvin at practice on Friday. Rumors swirled about the coach's fragile job status before Sunday's date with Arizona.
So what does Minnesota go out and do? It falls behind the Cardinals 24-10 with less than five minutes remaining—Mr. Childress nearly put his coach's headset on eBay—only to have Mr. Favre revive the Vikes with a series of dramatic drives in a career high 446-yard passing day en route to a 27-24 overtime victory.
Just like they drew it up!
The NFL is traditionally praised for its competitive parity, from which a brilliant team sometimes emerges—like the New England Patriots in 2007, or the Indianapolis Colts or New Orleans Saints last year.
This year, however, the train wrecks seem more compelling than the pace cars. There isn't a breakout team—there isn't even a team with fewer than two losses—but there are plenty of brilliant disasters. America's Scream in Dallas. Buffalo. Denver. San Francisco. Washington, Earth's least cohesive 4-4 team.
And wackiest of all are the Vikings, who may not make the playoffs but have proved as entertaining as anything Bill Belichick and Rex Ryan are cooking up.
It was nice to see Minnesota get some relief Sunday. The sports world has been cruel to the Land of 10,000 Lakes in the past month—a tough playoff sweep of the Twins, the unraveling of the University of Minnesota in college football, the shocker loss by former Gopher turned UFC sensation Brock Lesnar.
But then the Vikings went out and won one for the caterer.
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