The Skolney Blog

Vikings 24 Packahs 17 Games don't get a whole lot more life or death in the regular season than this. The disparity in what the Vikings season would be depending on a win or a loss was gargantuan. A win and the path to the playoffs remains very clear(and a shot at the division is still at least there). A loss damn near kills the season, plus you breathe all sorts of new life into the Packahs. So this game, this win, is one of the most satisfying and relieving wins of recent years. They saved their season, all but killed the Packers, and nuked those annoying primetime game narratives. It sure looked bleak early. The offense came out sloppy and stupid. Our run game got gashed. Rhodes had a bad penalty. And the Packahs were in the endzone. It looked like Chicago all over again. But then the offense got hot. The next 2 drives were simply splendid. We got explosive passes downfield, including another one of those insane Thielen grabs. I couldn't believe we ran that amazing Dalv...

Gophers 37 Stinkin Badgers 15 The Gophers had not beaten Wisconsin since 2003. They had not won in Wisconsin since 1994(Jim Wacker!). So naturally the team to end those streaks was this collection that gave up 55 points to Illinois just 3 weeks ago. What a weird season. Perhaps the most surprising thing about this win was how the Gophers were never really NOT in control. They never trailed, and once they had that big sequence late in the 1st half where Wisconsin dropped a 3rd down pass, then punted, and we ran it back for a TD and 17-0 lead, it was never really scary again. Sure they let Wisconsin go right down the field in 50 seconds to cut it to 17-7, and I was sure that would be the beginning of the end, but the end never came. The defense clamped down in the 2nd half big time. Hard to believe this defense is the same bunch that got run over week after week earlier in the season. They have been solid to great the last 3 weeks, against better competition than some of the teams t...

Bears over Lions Well, I can't say I was surprised. Trubisky for Daniel isn't even much of a downgrade tbh. The game was very winnable for Detroit until Stafford became an interception machine. It puts the NFC North just that much further out of reach. Cowboys over Redskins Dallas now fully takes over as the east favorite. The Skins officially fall a half game behind the Vikings, which may or may not matter ultimately. Saints over Falcons Saints barely broke a sweat. The interesting Saints game arrive in December. Last 3 week they have a game against Pittsburgh sandwiched around 2 Panthers games. If they get to 15-1 they'll have earned it. And the Falcons can look ahead to the draft. With Atlanta and Detroit both more or less finished now, the wild card race is down to 6 teams for 2 spots. If the Vikings can get it done Sunday night that will all but knock out Green Bay 

Creed and Rocky 4 Two movies, same franchise, that couldn't be more different. One a very grounded, gritty boxing film. The other a gloriously over the top, cheesy to the max boxing film. Rocky 4 might be the most 80s movie ever. These 2 movies smash together for Creed 2, while more or less lifting the plot structure from Rocky 3, and damn if this isn't one of the best sequels in recent years. It's not quite as food as the 1st one. This one has some hammy dialogue of the "what are you fighting for" variety, and I actually wish there had been more stuff showing the life of the Dragos. They did dig up Bridgette Nielsen though, and wow have the years not been kind to her. Michael B Jordan remains a charisma machine. Stallone slips back into the Rocky role so smoothly once again that he's bound to be overlooked(I doubt he gets Oscar nominated again bc this time he doesn't have any of those BIG scenes). Tessa Thompson is glorious. The franchise will surely...

Who knew that every single bad thing that happens in this world is Kirk Cousins's fault. Wildfires? Kirk set em.   Mass shootings? Kirk sold the guns. Stubbed your foot? Yep, that was all Kirk too. Or you sure would think so given the absurd amount of bile and hatred being thrown his way yet again after the SNF debacle. I'm so fucking sick of this shit. Kirk Cousins is not infallable. He played poorly in Chicago, no doubt. You can debate how much of it was Kirk, and how much of it was the offensive line  But good god, so much of this fucking fanbase has gone nuclear against this guy. After 10 games, most of which have been good to great. I know that for years the Joe Mauer haters would simply throw out his contract as their sole argument on all things Joe, like mentioning $23 million or $184 million instantly won all debates and instantly would discredit all valid attempts to praise him. Well now it's assholes saying $28 million or $84 million in every Cousins discuss...

There's a reason that for years my least anticipated game on any Vikings schedule is at Chicago. Call it a hex, a curse, a fluke or whatever you want. These games have been torturous for damn near 2 decades now. And after a reddit convo I figured I'd do a deeper dive into this whole thing. The results...may shock you!⚡ So we start in 2001. Prior to this the Vikings actually did fairly well in Chicago. They actually had a 5 game win streak there from 1996-2000. One more reason to retroactively love Dennis Green's tenure more. But starting in 2001, in the 1st game after 9/11, oddly, all that changed. 18 seasons. The Vikings are 3-15 in Chicago(one game, also a loss, was at the University of Illinois). Now, in that time, the Bears only have 4 wins here in 17 tries themselves. I didn't check every single division rivalry, but I feel safe assuming this is the single most home friendly rivalry in the league. There are matchups like Buffalo at New England, or Detroit at Gr...

BEARS 25 VIKINGS 20 So they made the final score look respectable. La dee freakin da! They only lost by 5 points, but has there ever been a 1 score loss that felt less close than this? It was a complete domination. Trubisky gave us a couple picks. We got a fumble. But there was never a moment in that 2nd half where I felt even the slightest shred of hope. It was never a game. My god, even the Bears kicker suddenly couldn't miss. I suppose you can look at it that the defense did settle down in the 2nd half, and that at least the offense moved the ball a little. So maybe they at least can take some solace from that. This wasn't the Buffalo game. That's the best you can say about this. It wasn't the Buffalo game. Biggest game of the year, and the best you can say about it is that at least it wasn't one of the 2 or 3 worst losses suffered by any NFL team all year.