Brett Favre and the Vikings Need to Tweak Their Identity Against 49ers

Have you ever done a double take upon spotting your fabled wandering twin?

According to urban myth, we all have a lost brother or sister-in-image roaming the earth at this very moment. Eerie run-ins with these passing self-likenesses do take place.

The spot resemblance could be in the hair, the style of dress, or a certain pose or mannerism. But these likenesses are only superficial.

On paper at this point in the 2009 NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers look strangely similar. Each team enters Week Three with a 2-0 record, and both teams have been mostly content to let their backfields and defenses dictate the game plan.

Even the quarterbacks have strikingly similar looks at this early point in the season.

Youngster Shaun Hill is only averaging 6.19 yards per passing attempt for 353 total yards with a single touchdown and zero interceptions. Living legend Brett Favre is averaging a slight 5.52 yards per passing attempt for 265 total yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

However, just as no person is like their guise twin in character, the Vikings’ offense bears no true resemblance to the 49ers’ attacking forces.

Frank Gore must be reckoned with, but he is no Adrian Peterson. Hill has proved effective in the first two weeks of the season, but I don’t think the comparisons between him and Favre are coming quite yet.

Throughout the first two games of the season, both the 49ers and Vikings offenses have welcomed a ground-heavy style of football that has served its purpose in wins. Minnesota currently ranks second in League rushing and San Francisco ninth.

However, if the Vikings choose to again welcome this style of play in Week Three, they will set themselves up for the type of exhausting, play-from-behind battle they have had to survive against both the Browns and the Lions.

The most striking rogue resemblance between the Vikings and 49ers lies in their passing ranks. Minnesota ranks dead last in passing offense, and San Francisco is 30th.

After two games, the NFL’s most prolific passer—Brett Favre—has a total of just 265 passing yards to his name. However, Favre’s performance to this point in the season should be seen as an absolute success.

No. 4 has now officially proven he can do what so many thought him incapable of— successfully play the quarterback position as a “game manager.” He has impressed with his efficient short-yardage delivery of the ball to Vikings playmakers, and he has surprised by showing restraint and taking a sack when nothing is open downfield.

With a surrounding cast that includes Peterson, Percy Harvin, Chester Taylor, and Visanthe Shiancoe, there is certainly nothing wrong with a fairly steady diet of handoffs and short dump plays.

But every diet needs variety, and the Vikings need to deploy that variety as soon as possible to avoid predictability and an overwhelming amount of third-down situations.

So begin the calls for Brett Favre to air it out. These same urgings came out of New York early last year.

Jets media and fans alike wondered if Favre still had the gun to go downfield. They wondered if the head coach and offensive coordinator were shackling his slinging sensibilities. They wondered if Favre simply hadn’t had enough time with his wideouts to trust long passing routes.

The answers to these three questions are the same as they were last year: Yes, sort of, and yes.

Favre does still have the gun to rocket a ball downfield. Brad Childress and Darrell Bevell are employing some restraint because of Favre’s relative freshness with his new crew. And it is true that Favre has not been in enough situations with his receivers to feel assured everyone is on the same page when he tosses a long ball.  

But the Vikings don’t need Favre to chuck the ball all over the field in order for the Vikings to establish themselves as a true, multi-dimensional offensive threat. They don’t even need Favre to attempt 40-plus throws a game. They just need to tweak the hows and whens of their passing game. 

To be successful rather than pedestrian this season, the Vikings will need to commit to establishing the passing game just as they commit to establishing the running attack. That will require more passing calls on first down, a dose of throw routes longer than 10 yards, and a series of play-action calls with Peterson as the decoy.   

A nice smattering of Favre’s trademark slants will also help the cause.

Starting with their San Francisco matchup, the Vikings need to prove their passing attack can be feared as much as Adrian Peterson. If not, Childress will not see the “kick ass” in his offense, and the Vikings will willingly throw themselves into games of mucky, trench warfare.

Favre’s Metrodome home opener seems as good a time as any to begin developing a fully staged offensive attack.

If the Vikings play the same game against the 49ers that they have against the Browns and Lions, they may still win, but it won’t be pretty—and it won’t begin to set the dominant identity they want for the rest of the season.

Read more Minnesota Vikings news on BleacherReport.com

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