It didn’t take long for the Vikings to pull the plug on the Tavaris Jackson experiment.  Two weeks into the NFL season, Jacko has officially played his way out of the starting job, opening the door for good ole’ Gus Frerotte to take the reigns.  Frerotte, who plays bingo on Tuesdays, bridge on Thursdays, and never misses an episode of Matlock, doesn’t have to do much for the Vikings offense to be an improvement over Jacko.  After all, Tavaris’s QB rating in the red zone was 30.  That’s right, 30.

I’m glad the Vikings finally came to their senses.  They spent a shit load of money in the off season, bringing in guys on both sides of the ball to improve the team to win now.  Yet, in what is making itself out to be more and more of a brain dead move by the day, they decided that they wanted to have a development project at quarterback.  Why in the world would a team built to win immediately want a guy who was going to take a few years to get the hang of it at the most important position on the field?  Not only does it not make sense, it’s mind blowing to think about.  What a waste of two weeks of the NFL season.

Does Tavaris Jackson have a future in the NFL?  Some people, including one of our contributers, Asita, believe he still has a chance to make it in the NFL.  But if the Vikings want to win now, which is how they’re built, they need a guy who can manage the offense.  Frerotte can do that.  Fror years Frerotte has been an adequate quarterback fror various NFL teams.  Time for him to take this team and turn it into an 0-2 disaster into the playoff contender that everyone saw before the season started.

In this episode we take a look at the NFC North.  We give our predictions as to who will finish where and we spend a good deal of time bashing discussing the quarterbacks within this division and of course there are the obligatory shots at Brett Favre.

Hosts: Kevin, Ryan, Rich

 

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• Patriots offensive lineman Nick Kaczur will be appearing in court today to defend his arrest in April that included a drug possession charge. Kaczur, easily one of the most unique and difficult last names to pronounce in the NFL, will be arraigned on charges of OxyContin possession. Leave it to the Patriots to find guys who can’t get down and party like everyone else with a bag of hippy lettuce and instead hit the hard prescription stuff. Kaczur’s assistance in arresting his dealer after his own arrest will assuredly shorten his sentence (which is maximum a year in prison) to a slap on the wrist and a small fine.
• Only six first round picks have signed as of this morning. Is everyone aware that camp starts this week or is it just me? These signings always fall like dominoes but come on guys. Lets get everyone into camp and stop bitching about $500,000 in incentives.
• The more I look at the Minnesota Vikings, the more I see a playoff team waiting in the wings. In all seriousness, Tavaris Jackson is about the only question mark with this team (and a big one at that). The Vikes defense, which was incredible last season, added drunk driving pass rush specialist Jared Allen and the offense added the speedy services of Bernard Berrian at wide receiver. Something tells me that the Packers, with or without the retired bastard who will go unnamed, are going to get leapfrogged in this division by the Vikings.
• Surprise, Surprise, Chad Johnson is going to report to camp on time. What a waste of time this whole story has been. Remember when Chad went Kobe on Cincy and said he couldn’t play there anymore? Come on. This passing offense is one of the most prolific in the NFL and theres no way the Bengals were going to let him walk. Props to Marvin Lewis for playing hardball during the situation; we knew he wasn’t going to cave.
• Brian Urlacher and the Bears are going long term on a contract that will keep Urlacher at Soldier Field for 43 more years. While this is a good move by the Bears, they still lack any form of intelligence on the offensive side of the ball. Get ready for a year full of 13-10 and 14-9 shootouts.

A day after the Miami LOLphins officially signed offensive tackle Jake Long, another splash was made that could greatly impact what happens over the weekend. Jared Allen, the NFL leader in sacks in 2007, has been shipped off to Minnesota in exchange for a bounty of draft picks. By acquiring the Vikings’ first round pick (#17) and two additional third rounders, the Chiefs have officially entered rebuilding mode.

With the move, the Chiefs now possess few weapons on either side of the ball. However, they do have 6 of the NFL Draft’s top 100 selections in this weekend’s draft. What’s this mean? Rebuilding… and lots of it. Moving Allen hurts on the surface, but lets be realistic here. The Chiefs weren’t going anywhere with him, so why put up with an unhappy veteran with a huge price tag? It’s a deal that makes sense for the Chiefs. Expect the Chiefs to find a replacement for Allen with their 5th selection. Chris Long anyone?

For the Vikings, Allen fills a gaping hole in the defense. With the league’s best rush defense two years running (but little pass rush to speak of), Allen should make things a lot more difficult for NFC North quarterbacks. No longer will they have hours in the pocket because now, a drunken maniac will be there to knock them on their ass.

Does this move make the Vikings a contender in the weaker NFC? On the surface, it would appear so. We know the Vikings can stop the run and now, they have one of the league’s best defensive ends to harass guys like Aaron Rodgers, Jon Kitna and Rex Grossman. Unfortunately, the Vikings still have Tarvaris Jackson under center. That in itself forces me to take their newfound “contender status” with a grain of salt.

Norse culture revolved around pillaging and plundering. It appears as if the Minnesota Vikings have taken the same approach in regards to wide receiver Troy Williamson. Williamson missed last Sunday’s game versus the Chargers and the team decided that it would dock Williamson the game check because of it. A game check worth roughly $25,000.

There are a lot of times when morality comes into question under business circumstances. This is, after all, what head coach Haggard the Horrible Brad Childress referred to the situation as; a decision made on “business principle.” I’ll give you business principle, Childress. Troy Williamson not only was mourning the loss of his grandmother, but also the loss of $25 grand because of it. To me, that is one hell of an insult, especially to a guy who only has nine catches and is handicapped by the ignorance of his head coach’s play calls.

Placing blame on Williamson in the form of one game check because he missed a football game due to a funeral is absurd. I don’t know if I can imagine a scenario where work would come before immediate family issues. Childress did his best backpedal impression by saying that Pat Williams and Reggie Wayne played through family emergencies. That’s fantastic Childress. That doesn’t mean Troy Williamson is a bad person for opting to attend a funeral instead of being overthrown/underthrown by Tavaris Jackson. It also doesn’t mean he should get docked a game check because of it.