Pelissero: Near-misses beginning to define season for Favre, Vikings
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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It had all the makings of a fourth-quarter miracle that could defibrillate the Minnesota Vikings once and for all.
It ended the way so many things have in what has become The Season of Almosts.
One too many mistakes. One too many missed opportunities. One too many matters of chance going against a team that now has dropped four games by a combined 22 points.
Sunday's 28-24 loss to the Green Bay Packers left Brad Childress crucifying officials, Brett Favre crying in his locker and more than one Vikings veteran talking about next week's trip to New England as 60 minutes to save the season.
"It'd be devastating, probably, to be 2-5 -- but we never thought we'd be 2-4 either," defensive tackle Kevin Williams said. "We've got to keep fighting, get one win at a time and try to claw ourselves out of this hole."
Favre took this one hard for a variety of reasons, and his role in it -- three interceptions, two of them leading to Packers touchdowns and another killing a drive in Green Bay territory -- wasn't lost on anyone.
But this defeat, like the rest of them, was about so much more than a 41-year-old quarterback paying too often for the risk-reward play on which he built his legendary career.
It was about an offense that continues to flush its first two drives in every game. A defense that can't get to the quarterback and keeps getting exposed early on the perimeter. A lack of discipline that showed up in two penalties on the Vikings' final drive -- on a night officials were allowing everything but eye-gouging up front.
"We've got to all go the same direction for the whole game -- offense, defense, special teams," Williams said. "We've just got to take the blame -- each unit. It's not on one unit. If we don't let them score, they don't win, and even if (the offense does) turn the ball over, we've still got to keep them out of the end zone."
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers sizzled on touchdown drives of 76 and 79 yards before the Vikings defense straightened things out in the secondary. The Vikings actually led 17-14 before one Favre pick set up Greg Jennings' 14-yard touchdown catch against overmatched Asher Allen and another Desmond Bishop took back 32 yards for a score.
"We just somehow keep shooting ourselves in the foot," cornerback Antoine Winfield said. "Turnovers, giving up big plays, where it can come down to the fourth quarter, we have a chance to win -- we're just not making plays to win."
Brad Jones' takedown contributed to the first interception and left Favre limping the rest of the game. By the time he spoke with reporters, Favre was moving like a 71-year-old and talking about letting Tarvaris Jackson deal with the peaking Patriots next weekend.
Yet there the Vikings were after a 58-yard touchdown drive late in the third quarter -- down four with more than 19 minutes left in regulation. A few thousand fans in purple were the only ones audible after the Vikings stuffed John Kuhn on fourth-and-inches to halt the Packers' ensuing drive.
Favre's third interception stopped the Vikings at the Green Bay 35. The defense got another stop.
And in spite of Visanthe Shiancoe's false start and Phil Loadholt's facemask penalty, Favre connected with Percy Harvin on an apparent 35-yard touchdown pass that might stand as the season's defining moment as Greg Lewis' grab against San Francisco did a year ago. Only this time, replay revealed Harvin's right foot on the end line, wiping out the score.
"We're not out of it by any stretch, I don't think," Favre said. "I think everyone in our locker room knows that. But we have to get it fixed in a hurry. It doesn't get any easier. But once you start playing again, practicing, that makes it a little bit easier.
"Physically, I would doubt seriously that I would be completely healthy, but if I can play and help the team win I'd love to give it a shot."
The cheers were deafening in the concourse as 71,107 fans headed home, chants of "Go Pack Go!" reverberating off the stadium's concrete walls.
Downstairs, in the nearly silent visitor's locker room, Favre stared bleary-eyed into nothingness while owner Zygi Wilf sat in the opposite corner, shaking his head about where his all-in proposition might be headed.
"We fought through all the adversity, turnovers," running back Adrian Peterson said. "Offensively, defensively, we fought and we put ourselves in a position to win, to win the game. And to lose it in that fashion is just tough to swallow. "
Instead of getting back to .500 for the first time, the Vikings are two games below again.
Instead of pulling within striking distance of the Chicago Bears, who fell to 4-3 with a loss to Washington, the Vikings are 1½ games back of them and the Packers.
The Vikings' final offensive play featured Favre falling down on a designed sprint left, getting up and throwing incomplete across his body for Randy Moss -- an apt metaphor for the season as a whole.
Favre has been knocked around plenty and keeps getting back up. But in the end, resiliency hasn't translated into results, and it's worth wondering how many more near-misses he and the Vikings can take.
"This was a perfect game for us to win," Winfield said. "And Chicago lost, would have put us in a pretty good position. But next week is a must-win for us."
