If you didn't know any better, you would have thought the Broncos were the team with a shot at the playoffs and the Vikings were playing out the string of a bitter season. After all, it's usually teams that have already mentally quit on the season who make monumental blunders to cost their teams a game and that's just what Minnesota did in the first half of the 22-19 overtime loss in Denver this afternoon.
Their first drive was an excellent combination of Chester Taylor running and Tarvaris Jackson passing that got the ball inside the Bronco five-yard line. Taylor took the ball for an apparent touchdown but, after a review, he couldn't hold the ball long enough to break the plane and the Vikes got no points. Then, in the second quarter, Jackson found Troy Williamson with a perfect parabola only to see the ball bounce off his shoulder pads as if he were a six-year old playing catch for the first time. Williamson would have had a sure six but Taylor fumbled again two plays later.
The Vikings made other mistakes later and, for most of the game, looked like a team that didn't show up. That reflects badly on Brad Childress but, just when all hope seemed lost, there was at least one reason to smile through a playoff-less January.
