Vikings @ Rams - Week 5

Sorry it has taken me a few days to come up with a recap of last week's game, but in all honesty, it was probably the least excited I have ever been about a win. Last Sunday the St. Louis Rams completed a decisive victory over...the St. Louis Rams. The Vikings? Well, they did indeed show up. They hopped on a plane from Minneapolis, took a bus to the Edward Jones Dome, put their uniforms on, and did what they needed to do to win. Scored some points, completed some drives. But honestly, without numerous key turnovers by the Rams, this game could have been a much different story.

So, basically in a nutshell we're left with a generic win. Not an Obama bailout but not exactly a domination either. Turnovers were the difference. A 52 yard fumble return for a touchdown by Jared Allen halted a St. Louis drive that was moving into Vikings territory. Later on in the first half, Stephen Jackson fumbled near the goal line, and Jared Allen once again scooped it up. Yet another promising Rams drive was shut down by a turnover, with the ball popping out of Daniel Fells' hands inside the 10 yardline and ending up in the hands of E. J. Henderson. Those three plays were why the Vikings entered the half with a 17-3 lead.

When the Vikes defense wasn't getting bailed out by St. Louis turnovers, it was busy allowing Kyle Boller to perform well. Once again, the Vikings made a mediocre quarterback look like a Hall of Famer. His effectiveness was aided by Stephen Jackson's surprising success on the ground as well. Overall the Rams offense was well balanced, unlike that of the Beloved Purple.

It was a shocker to see Adrian Peterson only get seven carries in the first half. True, we saw last week that Favre's arm can win a game for the Vikings, but this should still be a run first offense. To be fair, Favre did have yet another solid performance as he continues to get more comfortable with his receiving corps. The Favre-Harvin combo is also displaying that Percy may end up being exactly what I thought he was, the steal of the draft.

But still, there's some reason for concern despite the 5-0 start. This felt like a game the Vikings should have controlled from the opening kickoff, and yet they relied on several turnovers to maintain a solid lead throughout the game. The Vikings defense remains suspect on third downs, which plagued them in the first half of the Packers game as well.

I've heard the argument before: it doesn't matter HOW you win games. Sure, I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty, that goes without saying. But as a gauge for how the Vikings will perform in the next three weeks (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Green Bay), HOW they win games against the easier teams on the schedule does begin to become relevant. If Kyle Boller can carve up the secondary, we have a serious problem. This team can't always rely on turnovers to bail us out.

A quick glance at the scoreboard (38-10) would suggest that this was a dominant victory, but to me the Vikings got lucky this week. Lucky they were playing the Rams, a team that is obviously 0-5 for a reason. I know it's hard to complain when a team doesn't perform to its full potential and still manages to win by several touchdowns, getting the opportunity to rest its key players in the process, but the score was deceiving.

I guess I should feel great that my Beloved Purple is 5-0, but we haven't yet seen them play a complete game. Hopefully that means only more good things to come, but I can't help but wonder if we have already peaked. The next three games will probably show us all who we are and where we may end up...