The Minnesota Vikings were the pre-season media darlings. Read any pre-season NFL football magazine or newspaper and it would have said that the Vikings would be the most improved team in 2005. Randy Moss was gone, new ownership had arrived, and supposedly the Vikings now had the defensive talent to complement an explosive offense.
That's why they play the games, to quote the classic sports cliche. What a difference five weeks makes. Sex scandals, substance abuse violations, and ticket scalping have greeted the Vikings' season in 2005. Now with the Oakland Raiders, Moss seems like an angel, and the Vikings are yearning for his first-tier offensive numbers.
With several Vikings players accused of performing sexual acts on a cruise boat recently, it is making it much more difficult for the Vikings to focus on their 1-4 record. The Vikings' only win came against the lethargic and seemingly hopeless New Orleans Saints. The last place Green Bay Packers defeated the hapless Saints 52-3.
Leslie Hammond, an official at the NFL office in New York, told Inside the NFL that the league is "monitoring the (the Vikings sex scandal) situation closely," but that he could not add anything further. These comments come on the heels of a meeting over the weekend between Vikings owner Zygi Wilf and Greg Aiello, the assistant public relations director of the NFL.
For the Vikings, team conduct is far from the only disappointment. The Vikings ranked last in the league in total defense a year ago, and they certainly made an attempt to improve this defense in the offseason. They welcomed Darren Sharper, Pat Williams, Napoleon Harris (acquired in a trade for Moss), Sam Cowart, and Fred Smoot, but they still have allowed 24, 37, 16, 30, and 28 points in their first five games.
Injuries have been a factor with Smoot, Sharper, and Cowart all missing significant playing time. But their defense is also young, and the Vikings were counting on their veterans to show the rookies and second year players how to get it done in the NFL. That hasn't happened.
On the offensive side of the ball, the team hasn't been able to do much of anything besides turn the ball over. Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper has thrown 12 interceptions, including two picks in a 28-3 loss to the Chicago Bears this past weekend, and has a measly quarterback rating of 62.8 this season.
Speaking of the NFC Central, what has happened to the Green Bay Packers? The question on everybody's mind in the frozen tundra is whether or not this is a Packer team that can rebound like a year ago, when the Packers started 1-4 and then went 8-3 in their final 11 games to capture the division crown.
Careless mistakes and turnovers are the main reasons for Green Bay's poor start. The Packers lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when kicker Ryan Longwell missed an extra point. In their loss to the Carolina Panthers, wide-receiver Robert Ferguson dropped a fourth-down pass late in the game.
There is a lot of murmuring that quarterback Brett Favre should retire, but his receivers also need to catch more passes in order for Green Bay to have a shot at the NFC North title.
In other NFC matters, The Dallas Cowboys are off to a 4-2 start, and quarterback Drew Bledsoe is playing some of the best football of his career. He leads the NFC in passing, and the key has been the ability of the Dallas offensive line to provide protection. Bledsoe is also getting better at throwing the ball away when no one is open instead of making errant throws or throwing into triple coverage.
Credit assistant coach Sean Payton for some excellent play calling, and credit Cowboys coach Bill Parcells for trusting Payton enough to let him call the plays. Keep in mind that the Tuna did not even let then-Jets offensive coordinator Charlie Weis call the plays back in New York. Since that point, Weis called the plays for three championship New England Patriots teams and is now the head coach at Notre Dame. This is the first time that the Tuna has not called plays for his team since 1993.
