It happened again
The Vikings were short on explanations for their stunning loss but this isn't a first
By Matthew Coller
A team can only stack up so many shocking losses before nobody feels jolted anymore.
Certainly the fashion in which the Minnesota Vikings fell to the 0-10-1 Detroit Lions was pretty surprising. Did anyone predict Jared Goff turning into Joey Montana or Jonathan Elway on the final drive? But the bottom line is that Vikings fans have now gotten used to their club coming up short against teams that real contenders steamroll. They’ve seen it too many times.
The Vikings did it in 2016 when they were a victory against Indianapolis away from staying in the playoff race. They no-showed against a Buffalo team that entered as 17-point underdogs in 2018. Last year the Atlanta Falcons were not only winless but they had just fired their coach when they beat the Vikings. And if you thought the Vikings got it out of their system this year when they came up short against a Cooper Rush-led Cowboys team, you were wrong.
You could smell it from the start.
On third-and-9 of the opening drive, Kirk Cousins threw a screen pass to receiver Adam Thielen. The Lions wrapped him up and injured Thielen’s ankle in the process. He was lost for the day and the Vikings had to punt.
Then came the failure to take advantage of a Lions miscue. The Vikings got a stop on fourth down but only turned it into a field goal. They forced Detroit to punt on the next drive and only turned that into a field goal too.
This is how it happens. Three drives, six points against the 27th ranked defense in points allowed and 32nd in net yards per pass attempt allowed.
“We just seemed methodical and lethargic in the first half, I thought,” head coach Mike Zimmer said.
Detroit responded against the Vikings’ shorthanded defense, which was missing Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr and Patrick Peterson, with a touchdown drive. Even a quarterback who is struggling as much as Jared Goff this year can find a way without any pressure from the opposing pass rush.
Oddly, Zimmer elected not to go after Goff with blitzes either. More on that subject later…
Then came the turnover.
Cousins was strip-sacked on the fourth drive of the game when tackle Oli Udoh, playing out of his normal position of right guard, was beaten around the edge. It wouldn’t be a classic major upset against the Vikings if the O-line wasn’t involved somehow, right?
“You always respect an NFL pass rush that you’re playing,” Cousins said. “Certainly, they were effective today.”
That effective Detroit pass rush entered with 16 sacks on the year, 31st in the NFL.
Goff struck back in an instant, flying down the field with a 28-yard throw followed by 23-yard touchdown. He came into the game having the lowest averaged depth of target in the NFL but he had plenty of time to throw downfield.
Then came the end-of-half thing that keeps happening. The Vikings responded to Detroit’s punch in the mouth with a punt and then gave up a 13-play, 77-yard field goal drive that ate up 5:33 off the clock. With just over a minute left in the half, the Vikings failed on fourth-and-10 and Detroit had just enough time to tack on another field goal. The Lions went to the locker room with the lead at 20-6.
Talk about seeing this movie before. Down two scores, the Vikings’ offense got going and the passing numbers started piling up. Justin Jefferson pulled in a 48-yard bomb that eventually led to a Vikings touchdown. He finished with a career-high 182 yards receiving.
“I thought [the coaches] did a great job throughout the game of making adjustments so Justin could still get the opportunities that he did.”
Do you get credit for putting out a fire you started?
In all of these games in which the Vikings have left their fans in disappointment and awe, there’s always a moment where they could still pull out a win. The Lions gave them that chance. Oh did they ever give them that chance.
The Vikings scored a touchdown to cut the lead to two points early in the fourth quarter. All they needed to do was keep the pedal down for one quarter against the universe’s worst pro football team and they could go into Thursday night’s game versus Pittsburgh with a 50-50 shot at the playoffs.
Sure, not everybody would be overly impressed with fighting for a playoff berth in December but grinding through injuries to fight for the playoffs is somewhat admirable. Play one quarter better than the Lions and you’re still right there in the mix.
And Detroit made it easier by throwing the ball right to them. In Vikings territory, Goff flung the ball directly into the hands of cornerback Cam Dantzler. As Purple Insider pal Jeremiah Sirles says: “If it was a spear, it would have killed him.”
That should have been it. Goodnight, Detroit Rock City. Whoosh. Go watch some hockey. Instead, after a 14-yard completion to Jefferson, they committed back-to-back penalties, threw a pass for a 2-yard loss and gained 11 of the 22 required yards on third down.
Detroit did not want this football game. Why let Jacksonville or the New York Jets pick ahead of them in the draft, for goodness sakes?
Wildman Dan Campbell decided to get wicked aggressive on fourth down, running a play-action pass with only about six inches required to gain a first down and start running down the clock. Goff fumbled and the Vikings picked up an early Christmas gift: The ball at the Detroit 19-yard line.
But let’s get back to our theme here: This is a re-run.
Clock management and end-of-game defense have haunted this Vikings team all season long — so much as something self-inflicted can haunt you, that is.
“The end of game situations – like I told the team, you know, you play all these close games, they’re going to come down to either win or lose,” Zimmer said. “That’s just the way the NFL is.”
It’s not the way the NFL has to be. On Sunday, Indianapolis beat Houston by 31 points. The Rams took down Jacksonville 37-7. Philly toppled the New York Jets by 15.
The Vikings, though, found themselves in position to run out the clock, abuse Campbell for his mismanagement and finish off the slop fest. But they scored quickly, leaving 1:50 left for Goff.
The beaten-down Lions QB, who hadn’t won a game since Sean McVay was using him as an excuse in Los Angeles, started hitting passes left and right while sitting comfortably in the pocket. Shades of Cooper Rush. Goff completed six of his first seven passes, if you take out his spike to kill the clock.
“We were just too soft on them,” safety Harrison Smith said. “Let them get out of bounds a couple times. It was pretty much it.”
On the final play, the Vikings rushed three. Goff delivered the game-winning strike. Jay Feely, a former kicker calling the game for CBS, was bewildered at why Zimmer didn’t dial up any pressure against a QB who has the mobility of Drew Bledsoe with cement shoes on.
Zimmer offered only a muttered a few words of explanation.
“We weren’t covering that great,” he said. “So, I mean, everything is hindsight, I guess.”
This, this is different. In years past, we have seen Zimmer fume after losses like this. This season, there’s been more resignation in his voice, even when reciting the same line about how the team has heart.
“We’re all disappointed, but we’re going to keep fighting,” Zimmer said. “We’ll get some guys back next week. I anticipate getting quite a few defensive guys back and we’ll keep fighting.”
That line rings hallow when they didn’t need a full-on fight to beat Detroit. A minor tussle would have done.
Now they’ll face some fighters in Pittsburgh on Thursday night. If you were curious, the Vikings’ playoff odds sunk to 25% after a Washington win against Las Vegas.
Back to the old “In The Hunt” graphic.
That’s not where the Vikings expected to be when the started the year. Neither was becoming Detroit’s first win under Dan Campbell.
But that’s what they’ve been in recent years. Sunday’s game was their signature meltdown. And it might be the one that ultimately pushes the Zimmer era over a cliff.
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You’re spot on about Zim’s behavior. He’s beaten down and subdued. There is no fire left in him. Yes, he’s made mistakes, but the injury grim reaper has been particularly brutal. That’s not his fault. But the “next man up” isn’t working…. The buck stops with the head coach. Pittsburgh is going to pound us…
It was pathetic... And the one time we blitzed in the final minutes it was almost a pick. After the Pittsburgh game...Time to fire Zim...Sad to say it, but he is turning into a shell of himself.