Despite Brett Favre’s best efforts to give the game away, the Vikings earned their first victory of the 2010 season by beating the Lions 24-10 on Sunday.
Adrian Peterson saved another lackluster effort by the passing game by rushing for 160 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries (7.0 YPC). His longest run came on an 80-yard touchdown scamper with three minutes remaining in the third quarter to give the Vikes a 24-10 lead. Thanks to Minnesota’s inability to score, the Lions still had a couple of chances to tie the game in the fourth but Shaun Hill couldn’t make enough plays.
Favre completed 23-of-34 pass attempts for 201 yards and one touchdown, but he also threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. Fortunately for him, Lions’ rookie Ndamukong Suh negated the play by going up high to Favre’s head when bringing him down. Still, he has now thrown six interceptions in three games and could have thrown another if the pick wasn’t overturned on a penalty. Outside of a decent throw to Percy Harvin for a touchdown in the first half (one in which nobody was within three feet of Harvin, yet he still had to dive to make the catch), he continues to be out of sync with his receivers.
Make no mistake – the Vikings aren’t a very good football team. They may have won, but they committed 12 penalties for 100 yards and turned the ball over three times. Their sloppiness was nullified because they were playing the Lions, but either way this wasn’t a very impressive performance.
As of right now, the Vikes are a very distant third behind the Packers and Bears in the NFC North. Their defense continues to play well, but if opponents find ways to stop AP then Minnesota is screwed because Lord Favre isn’t going to beat them like he did last year. He looks every bit of his age right now.
