The Skolney Blog

....the Raiders never trade Khalil Mack to the Bears ...Daniel Carlson can hit a fucking field goal in Lambeau ...Everson Griffen doesn't have his breakdown the day before the Buffalo game ....Cousins doesn't get strip sacked on that final drive in LA ...Adam Thielen doesn't fumble that ball against the Saints ...that terrible roughing the passer call wasn't called on Houston in Philly last week ...the Rams put up ANY effort against the Eagles the week before that ...the Vikings defense can make a single 3rd down stop on that 9 minute drive yesterday

Bears 24 Vikings 10 This season was not much fun. It was not that much fun even before this season-ending, spirit-smashing thud of a defeat. Even the wins were often more exhausting than exhilarating. The fanbase began the season angry and stayed there. The media was no help, as they repeatedly treated wins like losses. When the offense was at its best, the defense struggled. When the defense hit its stride, the offense was often shockingly unproductive. Even today. Sure I got myself hyped up for the win and in. But I knew the win would mean another week of stressing about losing at our house of horrors, Soldier Field. And obviously then needing two more road wins to get to Atlanta. Even a win today could only have been enjoyed briefly. Instead the Vikings just saved us all a week and gave us the playoff performance in front of their home fans(plus an absurd number of bandwagon Bears fans...where ya been the last decade?). This was a tough one to take. To let a division rival, who...

I don't understand how, as far as their perception among most media and a lot of fans too, these Bears are considered an unquestionable juggernaut, while this Vikings team is looked at with just constant disdain. The gap between these two teams is really not that big. It's basically all their schedules if you look at them for more than 2 seconds. Last year gave us a 1st place schedule while the Bears got the last place schedule. This gave the Bears games against Tampa Bay and the Giants, while we had to play the Eagles and Saints. We both went 1-1 despite us having the much tougher pair of games. The rest of our schedules had the same teams, but even that has been far from equal. The Vikings had hard road games at LA(on a short week), New England and Seattle. The Bears got all 3 of those teams at home, and played Seattle early before they caught stride. We had to play San Francisco when they had Jimmy Garappolo. They got to face Nick Mullens. We had to play the Packers twice...

So, based on most of what I've seen and heard, the fans seem to like the Aquaman movie. Probably the 2nd best received of the whole DCEU behind Wonder Woman. I wish I saw that movie. The origin movie for the character who was previously the worst part of the Justice League movie, this movie is maybe the all time example of overkill. You hear some blockbusters be tabbed as "nonstop action" but they really aren't. This is. And not in a good way. In nearly 2 1/2 hours this thing can barely go 5 minutes without some kind of big action set piece. Many interrupt the few quieter scenes. There are at least 3 times when a dialogue scene between 2 characters is cut short by an out of nowhere explosion. It's too much. It's WAY too much. The story has a lot of standard stuff you've seen before. There's a lot of Black Panther here, a lot of Thor here. Nothing happens that will surprise anybody. The movie is not cast well. We're stuck with Jason Momoa, who i...

Vikings 27 Lions 9 A twisty, turny, at times maddening season will all come down to week 17 at home against the Bears. There are many ways this could have gone easier, but this is not an easy season. It probably always had to be this way. But first we had to get through Detroit, the team that has thrown a monkey wrench into many a recent season. And of course it wasn't easy at first. The whole 1st half was just weird. The Vikings couldn't even get started. We got pinned at our 2 to start and didn't really try to do anything but survive without a safety of big turnover. Then our 2nd drive died cause a ball went through Stefon's hands. The Lions moved the ball, but even as they were the Vikings defense was getting a lot of TFLs. And the Lions were only getting field goals despite controlling the game, which is usually a bad sign. And they only led 9-0 despite the refs doing everything possible to fuck us over. It was like playing at Lambeau. It was 9-0 but I wasn...

The Titans got it done in the end and knocked off the Redskins, one of the 3 results the Vikings need to clinch a playoff spot this weekend. So it's basically just us, Seattle and Philly now for 3 spots. Tomorrow will be a major scoreboard watching day. I would be absolutely stunned if the Vikings do not hold up their end of things. A loss to Detroit would be worse than the Buffalo loss by far given the circumstances.

Seriously, this fat fucker is spending some of his final days with control of all 3 branches of government in total scorched Earth mode. I guess he figures he can just try to blame Democrats for everything the second the new House is sworn in. Even blaming Dems for things he has already taken credit for, like shutting down the government over his bullshit border wall/overcompensation for his shriveled up cock. I'm pretty aghast, even after nearly 2 years of this catastrophe, at the audacity of this cocksucker and the endless worship from his inbred, should all be executed cult member supporters. This orange bag of puss spent his whole hate-fueled campaign riling up his white trash base with talk of this border wall that he was going to make Mexico pay for. Now, those of us who aren't in the cult understood full well that Mexico was never ever going to pay a penny for any wall. So to have this Russian puppet now screaming about shutting down the government(at Christmas, no less...

First off, screw you Rams and thank you Saints. Now then, the Panthers are now irrelevant as far as the Vikings are concerned. So it is us, Seattle, Philly and Washington for 4 spots. We are in with a win next week and losses by both the Eagles and Skins. All 3 could happen, although I kinda doubt we get that lucky. So we could be looking at the exact same scenario for week 17 that we had in 2012. That year we needed a week 17 win against the Packers to make the playoffs. And Green Bay needed a win to get a bye week. (Ironically the team we kept out of the playoffs with that win....the Bears) And of course that win meant an instant rematch with Green Bay, just like this could mean an instant rematch at Soldier Field. Hopefully we wouldn't have to start Trevor Siemian. The Rams will get their bye. Their last 2 games are cupcakes. But their loss to the Eagles almost guarantees the Bears will enter week 17 at least THINKING they can get a bye. So if we need that win in week 17 we...

Vikings 41 Dolphins 17 Now THAT'S how you supposed to play football! From now on, THAT'S how you play football! The 1st game of the Vikings 3 game mini-season, the 1st game post-DeFilippo, was not perfection, but it was almost unquestionably their most complete performance of the season. The 1st quarter was an absolute masterpiece. First drive, right down the field for a Kirk to Stefon TD. Second drive, right down the field for a Dalvin TD. Third drive, right down the field for a Tay Train TD. 21-0 after a quarter. Wow! The purple palace was alive! Quick passes, play action throws downfield, getting Kirk out of the pocket, blowing open HUGE running lanes...everything our former OC refused to let happen. It was like last year's Pat Shurmur offense, only with a better QB and a healthy Dalvin. This is what we wanted all season. Now, obviously 21 points a quarter is not sustainable, but in just this one quarter of football the bad vibes were swept away. Now, the bad vibes...

When the Vikings named John DeFilippo to replace Pat Shurmur after last season, it made all the sense in the world on paper. JDF was seen as a key figure, maybe THE key figure, for an offense that had just turned Nick Foles into a QB capable of flat out embarrassing Mike Zimmer and Bill Belichick defenses back to back on the biggest stages. It flopped. And it has a lot of recent friends in local sports history. The Twins, coming off a surprise 2017 playoff berth, made a series of what on paper were shrewd, low risk, high reward moves just before and during spring training. Hey, if you can get Logan Morrison, Lance Lynn and Jake Odorizzi all on the relative cheap, you do it. It appeared to be just  what we needed to push the team over the top. The moves flopped. The team flopped. The Timberwolves two offseasons ago are faced with a.rare golden opportunity to bring in a star player in Jimmy Butler. Yes, I disagreed with going all out to win now, but you were able to get him for h...

Stefanski made interim OC and play caller. I'm glad they had the guts to do it. Nationally this is bound to puzzle the morons who were STILL talking up JDF as one of the prime HC candidates. I'm sure they'll blame it on Cousins, as is their narrative. But those of us who actually watch this team know better. You can't have an offense with this much talent, even with a bad OL, play this bad this consistently. They might have still made the playoffs without the change, but now you have a better chance to get in, and maybe even have a prayer in January. And you get a mini audition for the guy who in retrospect probably should have just been given the job all along.

Seahawks 21 Vikings 7 *deep....deep sighs* Man, I really try with this team. I am not an optimistic person by nature, but I am when it comes to the Vikings. I look for silver linings even where there are none. I don't think I fall into pure homerism very often though. The math and the schedules still tell my head that this team should make the playoffs. My head tells me that this team has found itself in an usually large number of difficult spots schedule-wise. Now, they also haven't overcome any of them, but a lot has gone against them. But I love this Vikings team like a parent loves a child who is flunking out of school. You are better than this. You should be better than this. You WOULD be better than this if you just fucking LEARNED. But we have 3 weeks left in the season now, and it feels like if this team is learning anything from this season, they either can't or won't enact changes. I did the John Defilippo rant last week. I'm not interested in repeat...

Great finishes. Results you want. Those two things almost never occur simultaneously, and certainly not in bulk. But on the 14th Sunday of this NFL season they sure as hell did. Well, until the night game, but I can't be too greedy. My focus is fixed on the Vikings playoff chase. And from looking at schedules I thought this was probably the last week things could kind of go badly for us. The 3 teams sitting right behind us at 6-6 all had winnable games. And we have this tricky game at Seattle tomorrow. The odds the Vikings would finish the week out of the playoffs seemed pretty likely. But we got a whole afternoon of good fortune. The Redskins, who probably were doomed anyway with a 3rd string QB, were completely destroyed by the Giants. The free-falling Panthers lost at Cleveland. And now they get the Saints 2 of the last 3 weeks. And best of all, at the end of an infuriating game that Dallas seemed destined to blow, they came through in OT to beat the Eagles, probably our big...

Endgame I knew the Russos were lying about the title never having been said in an MCU flick. It sure is a teaser. We see a beaten, broken Tony drifting in space, cause apparently Nebula wouldn't just give him a ride home. He's recording a goodbye message to Pepper. I'm guessing a certain star of a previous MCU trailer we saw this week will be rescuing him before his oxygen runs out. Thanos is enjoying his retirement. Cap(whose beard is gone) and Black Widow(whose unflattering blonde bob isn't) are depressed. Cap is still looking at the Peggy lockett. Thor and Banner are depressed. Shuri is missing(although I'm pretty sure she didn't get snapped). Hawkeye is back, looking badass. But Cap has a plan, likely courtesy of Ant Man, who is out of the Quantum Realm and ready to get even.

I'm not saying the right wing corporate media(or the liberal media as the imbeciles call it) should have spent the last few days ripping to shreds the legacy of George H.W. Bush. Obviously the optics of that would have done more harm than good. And okay, he was the least awful Republican president of my lifetime, which is just about the lowest bar imaginable. But let's not pretend like his work as president was anything but garbage. Why do you think the subsequent Clinton years were so great? It was like an 8 year cleansing of the disastrous Reagan/Bush years. Then his demon spawn was given an election he didn't win, and led us to this disaster we are still very much in. And while the msm spends all their time lauding this guy, the GOP keeps undermining democracy at every turn. We see them going out of their way in Wisconsin to limit the powers of the incoming democratic governor. So that state won't even have a prayer now. Widespread election fraud uncovered in Nort...

The Vikings slip back ahead of the Redskins, who are finished. It's now 3 teams for that last spot(I'm just giving Seattle one wild card). That tie in effect gives us a 1 game lead, with 4 to go. The Eagles have to play at Dallas, at the Rams and home to Houston the next 3 weeks. The Panthers have 2 games against the Saints, plus at Cleveland and home to Atlanta, which are not total gimmies. So the Vikings remain in the driver's seat to make the playoffs. It's possible it may only take 2 more wins to get in, while 3 makes it nearly a lock. Still gotta gain a game on the Bears by week 17 to make that game matter. It's possible. Bears have the Rams next week, followed by the Packers(who knows what they'll have to offer), then a presumed cupcake at the Niners. If we win at Seattle the odds that week 17 is for the division are very strong. Prepare to be flexed.

We should know better. We should know it as well as any fanbase. Crunch the damn numbers: You have 32 franchises. 12 have never won a Super Bowl. 8 have won it just once, including the Chiefs and Jets, whose titles were 50 years ago. And even of the 12 that have multiple titles, 5 of those haven't won any since 1995. Miami hasn't won one since 1973. The Raiders haven't since 1983. The lucky 7 that have had both multiple titles, and won recently: Packers, Patriots, Steelers, Ravens, Giants, Broncos and Colts(and even they only have 1 in Indy). Yet our impossibly stupid and reactionary fanbase and media want to clean house less than a year since an NFC championship game appearance. I'm sorry you spoiled, fairweather fucks aren't getting the 19-0 Super Bowl winning juggernaut you have all decided you were promised. But you god damn assholes are raging at this team like they are the 2008 Detroit Lions, like they are a top to bottom disaster of an organization wi...

Hatriots 24 Vikings 10 I always believe that when teams are playing as big underdogs, particularly on the road, they need to play aggressively. You have to play like you have nothing to lose, even if you have lots to lose. If you don't, the odds are pretty damn good you will lose. I sure wish John Defilippo felt this way. The Vikings 5th ever matchup against Tom Brady was the 1st one that was within reach. This was a tie game until very late in the 3rd quarter. The tie was blown by the defense. The GAME was blown by our offensive coordinator, who should not be allowed to serve another game in that capacity. You have to go into a game like this, against this team in their home stadium where they are damn near invincible(they have more Super Bowl titles than home December losses in the Brady era), and assume that you have to score at LEAST in the upper 20s to have any reasonable chance to win. But our offense came out and for almost the entire 1st half played like the gameplan ...

The Vikings walking off the field victorious, having defeated the twin tandem of my NFL torment since 2001, Belichick and Brady. Never seen it happen. Now, due somewhat to the cyclical nature of the NFL, the Patriots have always caught the Vikings at low points. They've never had to face even a .500 Vikings team. 2002: A fairly competitive game considering the Vikings were very bad until the end of the season. Tbh I don't remember anything specific about this game. 2006: I was at this one. The Vikings were 4-2, in Chilly's 1st season. They had just won up at Seattle and were looking like a playoff contender. Then these fuckers came in here on a Monday night and completely destroyed us 31-7. We only scored on a punt return, and the season collapsed into a 6-10 bummer. 2010: Another bad Vikings season. Another bad game. This one is only remembered for two things: 1. Patriot fans cheering Brett Favre getting hurt, then taunting him as he was carried off on the cart, and 2...