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| Sunday, December 17 Associated Press | |||
| MINNEAPOLIS -- With six Pro Bowl players, everyone knows the
Minnesota Vikings have a Super Bowl-caliber offense.
The defense is another story.
Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers shredded Minnesota for 434
yards of total offense in a 33-28 victory Sunday, and made it look
easy at times.
It marked the second straight week the Vikings have given up 400
or more yards. Last week, the St. Louis Rams piled up 508 yards in
a 40-29 win.
"We didn't do a lot of things right today," safety Robert
Griffith said. "We just didn't play well."
When asked what the solution was to the Vikings' defensive woes,
he answered softly, "I have no idea."
With two straight losses, Minnesota (11-4) is now in danger of
losing home-field advantage in the playoffs. And if the Vikings
don't beat the Colts in Indianapolis next week, they could even
lose their grip on the NFC Central Division, depending on what
Tampa Bay does tonight against St. Louis and next week in Green
Bay.
"The only thing that I am concerned about is that we haven't
played well in the last two games," said coach Dennis Green, whose
team lost at home for the first time in 13 games.
"All that matters now is how we're going to play the next
game," Green said. "We did not play well on defense. We did not
sack the quarterback, except for one time, and we didn't have any
turnovers. You can't win a ballgame without sacks and turnovers."
Minnesota entered the game ranked 22nd in the NFL in total
defense, including 27th in passing defense.
Favre completed 26 of 38 passes for 290 yards and three
touchdowns with no interceptions to complement a career-high 161
yards rushing from Ahman Green.
"He's been a great player for a long time and he showed why
today," defensive lineman John Burrough said of Favre. "We
couldn't stop him."
The Packers, who at 8-7 still have a slim chance of making the
playoffs, converted 10 of 15 third-down plays.
"Everybody knows who Favre is," added Griffith. "He made
great plays like he always does. He leads his team really well.
They had the running game going. They made plays on third down. We
didn't give our offense any chance to get into the rhythm."
The Vikings are averaging 26 points a game on offense, but in
their four losses have given up an average of 35 points.
"Today was definitely our worst performance of the year," said
linebacker Dwayne Rudd. "I can't explain what's wrong. We played
well earlier in the year but lately we haven't been. The defense
has been doing more thinking than reacting. We were like that a lot
today."
However, Rudd refused to accept the idea that Minnesota isn't a
legitimate Super Bowl contender.
"We have faith in our coaching staff and we have veteran
leadership," he said. "We still have a lot at stake. We'll live
to fight another day." | ALSO SEE
Favre-Green connection pushes Packers past Vikings | ||