Kevin Love said:
All he does is win games. This year: 8-4
Lets look at those games....
Week 1 at home versus Atlanta. The Vikings won despite Jackson completing a meager 56.5% of his passes for a dismal 7.1 yards per completion with 1 TD and 1 INT. I don't see how the Vikings could have lost this game with or without #7 at the helm.
Verdict - Jackson did more to hurt the Vikings then he did to help then earn this win.
Week 2 on the road in Detriot. The Vikings lost a close game despite Jackson completing a Junior Varsity like 51.5% of his passes for a Pop Warneresque 5.0 yards per completion with 4 interceptions and 1 rushingTouchdown. Amazingly the Vikings were still able to keep this game competitive.
Verdict - Jackson directly cost the Vikings this win with his horrible performance, which clearly is the first of the reasons they ultimately lost a chance to continue into the postseason.
Weeks 3 & 4 Jackson sat out with the first of his minor injuries that he could not manage to gut it out (although in his defense Childress was clearly using this as a chance to audition Kelly Holcomb). Both were close losses one on the road to the Chiefs and one at home to the Packers.
Week 5 was a Bye.
Week 6 The Vikings squeaked one out on the road in Chicago behind the first of Adrian Peterson's monster days on the ground. Jackson chipped in with a pathetic 39.1% passes completed for a laughable 5.9 yards per completion with 1 TD.
Verdict - Jackson kept this game closer then it should have been with his horrible inaccuracy and inability to get a passing game going against a Defense that was almost wholly occupied with stopping the ground game.
Week 7 saw the Vikings drop a game on the road in Dallas where Jackson completed an abosolutely abysmal 31.6% of his passes for an all time crappy 3.8 yards per completion throwing zero touchdowns.
Verdict- Jackson's inability to generate any aerial threat once again directly led to this Vikings loss, which was the second that cost them a chance at the playoffs, and led to his second benching of the year the following week.
Week 8 Jackson was benched for a Vikings 7 point loss at home to the Eagles.
Week 9 Adrian Peterson set the all time NFL single game rushing mark, and the Vikings pulled away for a big win at home against the Chargers after Jackson left the game in the second quarter with yet another minor injury. In his time in the game Jackson completed a pedestrian 50% of his passes for a lousy 5.3 yards per completion and managed zero touchdown passes yet again.
Verdict - Jackson had nothing to do with this victory, which occured after he had exited the game with an injury.
Week 10 Jackson ducked the Packers yet again due to a minor injury, in which the Vikings team as a whole failed to show up in a blowout loss.
Week 11 Jackson returned for a soft ball opponent in the Dismal Oakland Raiders at home, and put up his first respectable completion percentage of 77.3 for a meager 7.8 yards per completion and throwing in an interception and fumble for good measure.
Verdict - The Vikings squeaked out a victory at home against a far inferior opponent, despite Jackson's inability once again to generate much of a passing threat. Its pretty hard to give the guy credit for a victory in which he was responsible for zero points and two turnovers.
In Week 12 at the Giants, Jackson put up his first game in which he looked like an NFL Quarterback. He completed a season high 83.3% of his passes for 10.8 yards per completion and 1 Touchdown, with 1 Fumble (which was recovered by the Vikings).
Verdict - While its hard to say he won this game, he at least didn't hurt the Vikings whose Defense was the catalyst for this victory. I will at least concede that this is the first win of the Vikings season that you could point to and say at least he had more to do with it then not.
Week 13 brought a home game versus the Detroit Lions who were spinning out of control. Jackson again put up decent numbers with 75% of his passes completed for 8.5 yards per completion and 2 Touchdowns with a pick thrown in for good measure.
Verdict - Jackson can take credit for having a hand in this blowout victory.
Week 14 saw the Vikings climb out to a big lead over the awful 49ers on the road and hang on in the second half for a win. Jackson completed 64% of his passes for a smallish 6.5 yards per completion and a touchdown.
Verdict - Jackson once again was able to stay away from his trademark mistakes and ride the Vikings momentum to a victory.
Week 15 pitted the Vikings against the Bears at home. In this sloppy, mistake filled game Jackson completed 62.1% of his passes for 8.6 yards per completion and threw 3 interceptions and lost a fumble.
Verdict - If ever there were a game where a teamwon in spite of its horrible play from its QB, this is it.
Week 16 saw the Vikings in a pressure situation facing the Redskins at home in a virtually must win contest for the final wildcard slot. Jackson managed to complete 61% of his passes for a dismal 5.4 yards per completion throwing 1 TD, running for 2 more and throwing 2 picks in an 11 point loss.
Verdict - Jackson was one of many Vikings players and coaches that you could point to as being a reason for losing this very important contest.
Week 17 saw the Vikings playing for their playoff lives on the road in Denver where Jackson stunk it up for over 3 quarters before stepping up to lead a comeback that ultimately ended in overtime with his fumble. Jackson was back to his early season ways with a pathetic 51.6% of his passes completed for a comical 5.6 yards per completion, with 2 TD's and 2 Fumbles (1 lost).
Verdict - While one can point to his 4th Quarter as a positive, his first 3 and Overtime performances necessitated that 4th Quarter or this would have been a huge loss laid upon his doorstep. Instead it was only a close loss.
In conclusion, the Vikings clearly won the overwhelming majority of their games this season on the strength of their ground game and defense. The games in which Jackson managed to not be a total joke, the team had at least a chance at victory, and in cases like the second Chicago game, they clearly won despite his best efforts to give the game away. Those people who point to his record as a starter which was 8-4 (and really only 7-4 if you remove the Chargers game in which he was on the bench when the Vikings pulled ahead) either A.) Didn't watch the Vikings play much this season, B.) Are being intentionally disingenuous, C.) Don't understand Football or D.) Are parrotting others who are either A.), B.) or C.)
The Vikings QB situation was horrible this season, and still Jackson managed to finish 3rd on his own team in passer rating. He is clearly the best example of a team forcing a Black QB into a starting position for which he clearly isn't qualified to hold.
Edited by: reclaimsocal