Football in Minnesota in a dire state?

The two premier football teams in Minnesota, the Gophers and the Vikings, lost this weekend. Minnesota is notoriously fickle when it comes to football, one loss and we think the sky is falling. Is it too early for such conclusions?

For the U of M, losing to South Dakota is nothing short of embarrassing. The worst part of it is that I'm not at all suprised. The Gophers probably should've lost to SDSU last year. Losing to SD is an upset in name value alone. Perhaps I have my expectations set too high for my alma mater. We build a gorgeous stadium, interest in the team is high, and we expect the team to be worthy of such a grand structure. Unfortunately, that's nowhere near the case. After a loss like this you start to look at the upcoming games and wonder where the wins will come from. I don't think anyone can envision the Gophers beating USC, Wisconsin, Penn State, Ohio State, or Iowa. That's 6 losses total right there. Add in iffy games like Michigan State, Purdue, and Illinois and we may be in for a very long year. Even the game against Northern Illinois isn't a guarenteed win at this point. At the very least, I think most Gopher fans expect a bowl appearance. Sure the Who Cares Bowl isn't anything to brag about, but it's the least the team can do. Even that might be a stretch this year.

So is it too early to sound the alarm in the Gophers case? Absolutely not.

The Vikings, on the other hand, are an entirely different story. Losing to the Saints felt like a much bigger deal than it actually was. A lot of emotion goes into playing a rival like that, but remember it was just one game. Still, I have my reservations. Injuries and rustiness can be partly to blame but the cohesion just wasn't there.

The laundry list of problems is a long one. Favre looked like he spent most of the offseason lounging in Mississippi (oh he was doing that? Ohhhhhh....), Harvin looked like he wasn't on the same planet as Favre, Childress forgot that he had Adrian Peterson on his team, Berrian does a really bad Sidney Rice impression, and the secondary's bend-not-break approach to coverage doesn't soothe anyone's fears. Luckily, much of these issues can be solved. As much as it peeves me, Favre will play himself into game shape. Harvin and he will develop chemistry over time. AP will hopefully introduce himself to Coach Childress before next week. Yet all of these are not foregone conclusions. Favre is another year older with a gimp leg coming off perhaps the best year of his career. We can't possibly expect a year like last year from him. Harvin played slot last year. Maybe he's just not as effective as a wide-out. Childress is......frustrating. I am the last person to blame a coach for the problems of a team, but he just seems out of his depth at times. Very similar to Mike Tice. You know how much you dislike Chilly when you have AP on your fantasy team. For stretches they will get away from the run for no apparent reason. We weren't in a situation where we needed to score fast with the pass. The Saints seemed to get this memo. They passed the ball the whole first first only to wear down our D with Pierre Thomas in the second half. There was no better time than the second half to establish the run, yet time after time Childress had Favre drop back.

Of course the Vikings were always going to stutter a little bit while they wait for injured players to return. Sidney Rice will give us that extra dimension we need, Ced Griffin will relieve some of the secondary concerns. Yet will it be too late? The Packers aren't going away anytime soon and could have a big lead on us if we don't get our act together. Only time will tell, another game may give us some answers.

So is it too early to panic? Yes, it was a game against the defending champs and for all our concerns, we still nearly won. Still, we're in need of a good game on Sunday to alleviate some of the fears.