MVN: Most Valuable Network

Anyone wishing that Jeff Garcia was suiting up for the Vikings right about now?

Hats off to Garcia for dominating this Vikings defense today in Tampa -- his ability to escape pressure, keep plays alive, and work the short and intermediate passing games was the difference this afternoon.  Just look at the stat line: The Vikings defense finished the game with a grand total of one sack, and the front four could only manage nine tackles.

And when you look at the production that each team got out of the quarterback position, there could hardly be a bigger contrast.  Frerotte fell flat on his face.  For that matter, the Vikings offense as a whole fell on their collective face.

Frerotte had his feet planted in the turf from start to finish, as the Buccaneers took advantage of his laughable lack of mobility and absolutely pummeled him.  However, the offensive line obviously isn't blameless for the fact that Gus spent a considerable amount of time on the grass of Raymond James Stadium.  Ryan Cook was particularly atrocious.

The bottom line is that Garcia stepped up -- Frerotte and company didn't.  And when you're on the road and facing a superior team, that's a sure-fire recipe for a loss.

If you're looking for a perfect symbol of how the Vikings performed, look no further than their final drive of the game.  With just under two minutes remaining, they were handed an absolute gift of a missed Matt Bryant field goal -- thus, they had one final opportunity to steal a win.  Their drive went like this: offensive pass interference, sack, fumble.  It was that general carelessness that characterized today's performance for the Vikings offense.

In today's game, we also saw something that happens from time to time -- Childress drifting away from the running game.  When Gruden gives the ball to Warrick Dunn (20 carries) more than Childress gives the ball to Adrian Peterson (19 carries), we have a major problem.  Couple that with the fact that Chester was only given seven touches (five carries, two receptions), and you've got a coaching staff that isn't doing its offense any favors.

There aren't a lot of easy answers for this team.  Between Frerotte, JDB and T-Jack, there just isn't a good option at the quarterback position -- and despite his recent slump, I still believe that Frerotte is the best we've got.  We saw that Childress continues to be erratic in his use of Peterson.  And Garcia revealed this team's inability to contain a mobile quarterback.  It's truly anyone's ballgame in the NFC North right now, but it's hard to be optimistic about the Vikings' chances.