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NFL Week 11 Previews:
Kevin Williams and Brett Favre Lead the Minnesota Vikings Into Pivotal NFC North Tilt Against the Chicago BearsThe Minnesota Vikings mounted a furious rally late last week to knock off the Arizona Cardinals and keep their 2010 season alive. Brett Favre was his old, magical self, while the Vikings defense made the plays and got the stops it needed. There is still plenty of drama and uncertainty in Minneapolis – most of it surrounding Brad Childress and of course, Brett Favre. But if the Vikings could just put together a little winning streak and climb back into the thick of things in the NFC North and/or NFC Wild Card picture, perhaps the Vikings could just concentrate on football, not answering questions from a relentless media. Veteran defensive tackle Kevin Williams sure hopes so.At his age and veteran status, he wants to focus on winning football games, not being involved in a volatile soap opera.Williams joined WSCR in Chicago to talk about Minnesota’s come-from-behind win against the Cardinals last weekend, how the players are fighting for one another despite all the ‘side-show’ distractions swirling around them, how it tends to be beneficial to play for your teammates rather than worrying about the future of your coach, going up against a Chicago Bears’ offensive line that’s struggled mightily this year, how it’s infinitely easier to get an edge defensively when offenses abandon the run like Chicago has tended to do, how he and the rest of the Vikings’ D-Line are poised for a dominant stretch after an inconsistent first half of the season, how he wouldn’t say it’s necessarily do-or-die against the Bears this weekend, and how there have always been and will always continue to be a different set of rules for players on NFL teams based on what they contribute on the field.
On the Vikings comeback win last weekend against Arizona and how the Vikings have tried to stay together:
“I think the main thing is we’re trying not to let it bother us. We still have a job to do. We think we’re still a good team, and we just have to go out and play. No matter what side-show things is going on, we’re playing for each other, trying not to let the teammate down beside us, and that’s how we took it Sunday.”
On what he thinks about the uncertain future of head coach Brad Childress:
“Man, I think the coaching situation is dealt with by the front office. No matter who’s the coach, we still have to go out and execute. And I think not wanting to let down the guys next to and the guys in this locker room, says a lot. At the end of the day, I think it helps if you play for your teammates and not whether your coach is going to be here or this that and the other.”
On what he thinks of the Bears’ offensive line based on what he’s seen on tape:
“They’ve got a couple of young guys in there. They’ve been plugging guys in and trying to find the right mix. But I think the Buffalo game they go, the play-calling matched the guys they had blocking, and Cutler used his legs a lot to get out of bad situations. I think he rushed for 50 or 60 yards, because every time guys got close, he took off. So I think we’re really going to have to pay attention to that even though the line is not as strong.”
On how much it helps opposing defenses when an offense like the Bears abandons the running game so consistently:
“Yeah, I mean, when you know they don’t have a threat to hand it off, you’re just letting it go and throw out there anything you can think of to try to beat a guy with because you’re not worried about them handing the ball off.”
On if he feels the defensive line is ready to go on a dominant run after struggling to consistently impact games this year like they did in ’09:
“Yeah we felt pretty good after the game on Sunday. Hopefully we can keep that going. But you’ve got to understand, they’re going to be blocking us different than in the past. They’re not going to let us tee off on them or not even try to run or change up the blocking schemes to try to get the ball out of their hand. I mean we haven’t seen a lot of that this year where the quarterback’s holding the ball very long.”
On if he agrees that the Vikings season is on the line this Sunday:
“I mean, I wouldn’t say that. It’s just another game we need to win if we want to stay in the hunt in the NFC North. I think it’s still wide open. With Chicago and Green Bay a couple of wins a head of us, it’s going to be great if we win, but I wouldn’t say we’re totally out if we lose. I mean, if those guys lose a couple of games, we’re still in it.”
On if he thinks Childress setting different sets of rules has had a negative impact on the club’s cohesion and overall well-being:
“I think it’s ultimately like that for every team. Even for the guys that are there, there are still different rules for different guys. It just depends on what you contribute to the team, that’s just the nature of it. I think every sport does it. I mean you can draw attention to it when an organization or a team is not winning games – ‘oh this guy should have did this, this guy should have did tha But nobody pays attention to it when you win games. I think there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s going to happen, and it’s going to continue to happen as long as the league is going on.”
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