Viking Warrior Hurting Team

By Val Thompson

Daunte Culpepper came clean yesterday about a knee aggravation that may be the cause of his horrible start this season. He suffers from a strained ligament and bursitis in his right knee. Nevertheless, he insists that he's going to stay off the sidelines. "There's swelling, and it's painful, but I'm a warrior," Culpepper told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I'm going to push through this."

Why should he force himself to push through it? Isn't that what we've been witnessing the past four weeks? What good is he doing playing at less than full strength?

Culpepper has 10 interceptions and only four touchdown passes. In the Vikings' three losses this season, he's thrown just one touchdown. Last week against the Falcons, he was sacked nine times. That moves the total to 20 for the season. It looked as though things were back on track with an impressive victory over the Saints in week three. Culpepper played nothing like the ugly imposter that took him over in the first two weeks. But after the embarassing loss to the Falcons on Sunday, it looks more like the Culpepper who played the Saints was the imposter.

Culpepper is an extremely talented quarterback who will do wonders for Minnesota when he's completely healthy. Right now, he's obviously not. Culpepper insisting he'll be in the lineup is bad for the team and bad for himself. I understand that's he's a competitor and naturally wants to start every single game. I can respect that. But Mike Tice needs to step in and say enough is enough.

Through all the difficulties this season, Tice has never removed Culpepper from a single play. His backups have no pass attempts. How many sacks and interceptions does it take to get backup Brad Johnson in the game? You remember him. He helped the Buccaneers get their only Super Bowl title in 2002 with a pair of touchdown passes. Now he's gathering dust while the Vikings let their season dwindle. I'm wagering that a Brad Johnson at 100 percent is better than a Culpepper at 70 percent.

Here's what Tice needs to do. The Vikings have a huge game this Sunday against the division rival Chicago Bears. Pulling Culpepper from his starting job might do more damage than good. But Tice needs to give Culpepper an untimatim. He needs to give him a simple task: take the lead in the first half. Tice should pull Culpepper aside and tell him "if we go into the locker room at half with the lead, you're staying in the game. If not, Johnson's going to get his shot."

That way, Daunte has his own destiny in his hands. He knows his body more than anyone else. He knows what he can do. Culpepper is more responsible that anyone else on the offense for putting points on the board. So Tice needs to give him some extra incentive to do just that. If Daunte feels he needs to be a "warrior" and stay in the game, he needs to show the coach and the fans why he deserves to be in there.