The Vikings just fired head coach Brad Chilldress and replaced him with defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, who takes over the team on an interim basis. As of now, that is all we know. What we don't know is how this will affect the team's play for the rest of the season, which makes this weekend's game very hard to predict for the Redskins. Let's think about the things that may be changing.
Brett Favre is the most polarizing man in the NFL and that sentiment might be shared in the Viking locker room. Frazier might come in and drop the hammer, replacing Favre with Tarvaris Jackson in an attempt to gain control over the Vikings locker room from the get-go, but I wouldn't bet on it. Nobody wants to go down as the coach who ended Favre's streak, especially this late in his career, and especially if it's his first game in that position. I think Favre will start on Sunday and for the rest of the season. The Vikings aren't really playing for anything so they can afford to keep playing Favre out of sentimentality.
What I think this does mean is more carries for Adrian Peterson. The Redskins defense has shown that it will give up yards to opposing running backs, and Peterson is the best in the game. This is a good compromise that Frasier can make to kind of take the ball out of Favre's hands without actually taking the ball out of his hands. And as a defensive coordinator, I'm sure Frazier will want to keep things pretty simple in his first week as head coach. There's nothing simpler than handing the ball to AD and telling him to run off left tackle 35 times.
All things considered, I don't think the Vikings will look all that different this week than they have all season, at least in terms of the gameplan they put out. The biggest difference might be in effort. They clearly weren't playing very hard for Childress, and we might see them come out swinging for their new coach in his first game. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the best game the Vikings play all season, which is a scary thing for the Redskins.