<DIV id=precede>According to sports columnist Pat Reusse of the Star and tribune. -vikings fans are racist because they are not booing Brad Johnson like they did Daunte Culpepper. (by the way Culpepper would have won all these games anyway if he were not injured)
http://www.startribune.com/stories/508/5789824.html
Quarterbacking futility doesn't come with the same background noise in the Metrodome. The boos that echoed so rudely in Daunte Culpepper's ears have turned to stony silence for his replacement.
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Patrick Reusse,Star Tribune
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The boos would have started early in the second period, when the Vikings' quarterback flipped a pass in the direction of receiver Koren Robinson and it ricocheted to Pittsburgh's Joey Porter.
The hoots would have filled the Metrodome on the home team's next possession, when the quarterback threw short to Jermaine Wiggins on third-and-6, leading to a punt from midfield.
The boos would have escorted the Vikings toward their locker room, after the quarterback was hit and threw a popup that was intercepted by Pittsburgh's Deshea Townsend in his end zone in the closing seconds of the first half.
And in the second half, when the quarterback went 2-for-9 for 9 yards and his team had one first down (by penalty) in the game's final 27 minutes, there might have been a need to use fire hoses to calm down the partisans as they screamed with bug-eyed venom at the leader of the offense.
The interceptions, the short toss and the putrid second half all occurred Sunday, but the Purple zealots chose to observe the haplessness of the quarterback and his offense mostly in silence.
They did this because Brad Johnson was the man on the job and not Daunte Culpepper. For several weeks, the locals had been assuring themselves that Johnson was the cure for all that ailed the Vikings, and it's never easy to admit:
"Guess I was wrong. There might have been some flaws beyond Daunte that made this a sickly offense."
Culpepper started seven games, and five were losses against playoff contenders: Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Chicago and Carolina. He was 2-0 against the non-playoff teams from Green Bay and New Orleans.
This was Johnson's seventh start. He was 5-0 against the non-playoff teams from Detroit (twice), Green Bay, Cleveland and St. Louis, and also had a 24-21 victory over the New York Giants on Nov. 13. That was the Meadowlands miracle -- Vikings touchdowns on kickoff, punt and interception returns.
Johnson was 6-for-13 for 11 yards in the first half against the Giants. He finished 17-for-30 for 144 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions. On Sunday, he faced a second playoff contender in Pittsburgh, and the 9-yard second half put his totals for the afternoon at 16-for-30 for 143 yards.
In these two games against serious NFL teams, Johnson is 33-for-60 for 287 yards, two interceptions and no touchdowns. His quarterback rating against the Giants was a modest 69.8, and Sunday it was 38.6.
Put Culpepper in charge of a 9-yard second half in the Metrodome and the anti-Daunte screeds would have blown out the phones on the postgame radio shows.
After the Big Neighbor's three-hour version of Vikings Whine Line, host Dark Star reported that Johnson remained blame-free among the callers.
That serves to reaffirm that many Vikings fans are phonies at best, and overly fond of the idea of having a white quarterback at worst.
Culpepper might have panicked amid the offensive futility against the Giants, thrown a couple of interceptions and lost the chance for the improbable victory.
Beyond that, there's not a game Johnson has won that Culpepper would have lost, and there's not a game Culpepper lost that Johnson would have won.
And Sunday, if the Vikings had a quarterback capable of making a play with his legs, all those chances in the red zone might not have gone
pffft!, and Pittsburgh's 18-3 victory might not have been so sweat-free.
Yes, Brad Johnson stepped in for the injured Culpepper and showed more competence than anyone watching him in the 2005 exhibitions could have anticipated.
He made a few clutch plays every week. Those were enough to ride to victory a defense that was forcing turnovers from bad teams.
On Sunday, the Steelers offered the Vikings some chances in the first 33 minutes. Now they needed a few clutch plays against a good team, and Johnson had none to offer.
The offensive line was worse than the quarterback against the Steelers, but that line also was worse than the quarterback when Culpepper was losing games, and there was no slack cut for him.
If you were among the thousands sitting there in silence as the offense stumbled through the second half Sunday, and want to claim you wouldn't have been screaming for Daunte's neck in the same circumstance, you are lying and you know it.
Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 5:40 p.m. -
