This game features two teams that know how to squander golden opportunities. The Vikings are, along with the Bills, the losingest (so apt it matters not if it’s a word or not) team in Superbowl history. Worse than their 0-4 record in the big game, though, was perhaps their NFC Championship loss to the Saints a couple of seasons back. They had it all then, and now? Now they have nothing.
They raced out to a 17-7 lead against a Chargers team that looked down and out, but it wasn’t enough. A second half surge from Phillip Rivers and Co was enough to see off the forgettable Vikings, Quarterbacked this season by the once proud Donovan McNabb, who seems to be doing his best to soil his legacy, was the shameful overseer of a 3rd and 4th quarter shut out.
The Chargers, then, what does their ineffectuality in the first half mean? Slow out of the blocks? Maybe, but remember this is a pretty right unit that has remained relatively unchanged for seasons. No, I think the Chargers are in trouble. Beating Minnesota says more about the Purple and Gold than it does about the Chargers’ heart. With the Raiders the bubble team in the AFC West, the Chargers need to be mindful of the fact they may well lose the division for the second year running. And mark my words; only one team is getting out of that group alive.
A note on McNabb: he threw for 39 – thirty-nine – yards in this game, en route to a -50 passer rating. Frankly, that’s rubbish, and he’ll need to gel with his receivers quickly unless the Vikings’ brass are salivating at the prospect of the number one pick in next year’s draft.
Pick up THE HARE newspaper at Night and Day, Bar Centro, Font or Tiger Lounge in Manchester town centre, or the Oakwood in Glossop.
E-mail theharenewspaper@hotmail.co.uk with questions, comments or contributory pieces.
No comments:
Post a Comment