After last week's debacle I wrote:
"Plenty of problems were exposed, and plenty of challenges have emerged. Now we get to see just how resilient this team is."
Answer: Pretty damn resilient.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Vikings jumped out to a two score lead over the Bengals by halftime, extended that lead by a touchdown in the third quarter, and iced the game in the fourth quarter. Between missteps by a sloppy Bengals team, an impressive defensive effort headlined by the return of Antoine Winfield, a productive afternoon for Adrian Peterson, and a solid special teams performance, the Vikings looked good during their 30-10 victory.
Having Winfield back was huge as Carson Palmer managed just 94 yards passing on 25 attempts. Beyond Ochocinco's 15 yard touchdown, there wasn't many highlights for the Cincy offense. Sure, Cedric Benson put up some impressive numbers, 16 carries for 96 yards, but nearly half of those yards came on a single carry. The teams also combined for 20 penalties in the game, 11 for Cincy and 9 for Minny. Although the Bengals' penalties seem to be more costly.
On the offensive side, AP rebounded nicely from a rough night in Arizona, finishing the game with 137 total yards on the ground and through the air. He also scored twice, breaking the team record for rushing touchdowns in a season.
Brett Favre continued to struggle a bit, completing just over 50% of his passes while tossing a TD and an INT. The absence of Percy Harvin couldn't have helped matters, but Brett never targeted Shank and Rice with any sort of consistency on Sunday.
Jasper Brinkley made three tackles in relief of E.J. Henderson, but the real story was the emotional lift provided to this defense through the return of Antoine Winfield. After nine tackles and a few push-ups..ha ha...Antoine had given everyone a reminder of just how valuable he is to this defense. You would have never guessed this guy had been sidelined for as long as he was, since he didn't miss a beat out there.
And that ladies and gentlemen was what this game was all about: Rebounding from a setback. And I'm happy to say, the Minnesota Vikings did just that.
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