Loathing in victory in Las Vegas

The Vikings somehow survived a horrendous offensive showing against the Raiders

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By Matthew Coller

LAS VEGAS — So much about the Raiders in Las Vegas is awkward.

As thousands and thousands of fans wearing purple streamed into the stadium, the in-game entertainment folks played the famous NFL Films Raiders music and the “Autumn Wind is a Pirate” poem. It would have sent chills down your spin on an early December day on Oakland but the weather was 60 degrees with pure sunny skies.

John Madden’s face would have turned green watching highlights of muddy old Raiders highlights inside a building that feels like a casino. If they were allowed to have slot machines inside, they would.

The giant Al Davis tribute flame made of LED lights towers over huge windows that look out onto BETMGM. In front of the flame is a stage where bands play throughout the game. At one point a cover band blasted out “Livin’ on a Prayer.” Remember when it used to be scary to play the Raiders on the road?

Don’t get me wrong, the fans try — what few of them there are. I saw a guy dressed as Raider batman and another covered in skulls with a kilt on. But in Las Vegas that feels like a funny street show rather than being intimidating.

When the Raiders took the field, the 60% of the stadium filled with Vikings fans sat politely as Aidan O’Connell took the field. It wasn’t until third down that they remembered it wasn’t a home game and they were allowed to bother the home quarterback. At that point, the Raiders’ rookie QB had to switch to the silent count.

One of the other problems the Raiders suffer from in Las Vegas is that everything is more fun than them. The WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces were in the house. They have held two parades here. The NHL team is the talk of every Uber driver. Vegas has this massive sphere thing made of all lights and U2 plays there every week. I stayed at Circa, which has the largest sports book in the world and outdoor pools where you can watch sports on a massive TV. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Who wants to watch bad football?

And oh boy was it bad football.

The Raiders somehow opened with a 12-play, 27-yard drive. Aidan O’Connell only has two ways of playing: Screen pass and panic. The Vikings defense likes to cause panic to quarterbacks who don’t know what they are doing. After converting O’Connell panicked and got sacked by Troy Dye and the Raiders punted away.

There is no point in doing a drive by drive recap because the goal isn’t to make the reader sick. But let’s go through some of the highlights of the 0-0 first half:

— Josh Dobbs’ first throw of the day went toward Justin Jefferson, naturally, and almost got pick-sixed

— It took until 11:46 of the second quarter for Jefferson to get his first catch of the game and then he was injured on his second catch, a high throw that caused him to get popped in the back. He did not return and was taken to the hospital out of precaution.

— Aidan O’Connell got called for intentional grounding when he threw the ball into the stands for no apparent reason.

— Greg Joseph missed a field goal.

— Alex Mattison had his best half of the year with 60 yards on nine carries, yet the play caller refused to stick with him and kept going to the pass. In particular, it killed a drive at the end of the half where they had second-and-short and then Dobbs took a sack.

— The Raiders had a timeout left at the end of the half but did not use it and ran the clock out on themselves.

— Brian O’Neill suffered what appeared to be a serious injury.

— Dobbs finished the half 5-for-11 with 40 yards and four sacks. O’Connell 12 -for-18 with 81 yards and three sacks. No turnovers!

When the dust settled on the first half, the fans booed. It’s something that may have never happened before where all the fans — either in purple or silver — booed their team off the field. It was actually the loudest that the crowd had been all day. It’s nice when everyone comes together in a divided nation.

To start the second half, Dobbs remained in the game. Folks who made “Passtronaut” signs may have spent the half erasing the P. Dobbs attempted a checkdown to Mattison and the Vikings’ RB went down with an injury and then the journeyman-for-a-reason QB got sacked again.

Mullens time? It feels very dark to write, “Mullens time.”

On the other side, O’Connell finally broke through when receiver Hunter Renfrow caught a slant over the middle and took it 38 yards into Vikings territory.

You wouldn’t think that the Vikings could ask their defense to make stops on every single drive, yet they continued to do so despite the faux pas. In the red zone Josh Metellus forced a fumble and the Vikings offense took over.

We were sitting in the most climate controlled atmosphere in the world, yet the game felt like it was being played in a blizzard.

Midway through the third Dobbs finally put together multiple first downs on a drive but the Raiders immediately blew up a screen and killed another drive.

Still 0-0 with 4:29 left. Is there still time to catch David Copperfield?

O’Connell almost pulled off some magic on a throw down the sideline to receiver Tre Tucker but after review the play was overturned. The loudest cheer of the afternoon came following the ruling.

Dobbs returned to the field, which must mean that Kevin O’Connell has absolutely zero trust in Nick Mullens, otherwise he would be in.

To start the fourth quarter the in-game entertainment folks played “Welcome to the Jungle.” Uh, sure. No Elvis? Wayne Newton? Trying to live in both worlds is weird.

Anyway, Dobbs converted a first down with his legs — timidly — and then they jumped offside. KJ Osborn then bobbled a pass that was almost intercepted. Then on second down, Osborn again failed to bring in an easy throw. It was like somebody put a forcefield over the 50-yard line.

Early in the fourth quarter, the defense continued to be a menace, breaking up a pass on third down. And then the real star of the show arrived, the Raiders punter. AJ Cole bombed an 83-yard punt, flipping the field entirely. Somehow 75 yards felt like 400.

Ryan Wright countered with a good punt and the Raiders went three-and-out again.

Finally Nick Mullens came in the game to a kinda-sorta cheer. What a way to try to save the season.

His first throw of the season finally got the Vikings into Raiders territory. Don’t ask how. OK I’ll tell you. It bounced off a Raiders defender right into the hands of TJ Hockenson. Anything for a chance to stay alive.

The flicker of hope was quickly extinguished by a negative Ty Chandler run and false start. At the 42-yard line, kinda-sorta within Greg Joseph’s range, Kevin O’Connell chose to punt. Hard to blame him.

The Raiders fumbled a snap and then other O’Connell threw a checkdown on third down and the punt battle continued.

If this isn’t the worst game you have ever seen in your life, I pity you.

The Vikings committed a block in the back penalty, pinning them in their own end again.

Vegas native Jalen Nailor had a chance to put the Raiders away when he broke wide open on a double move but Mullens, who hasn’t started since 2021, threw inaccurately. But Mullens bounced back with a sideline pass to Osborn for a first down. Going deep in the bag, CJ Ham scampered forward for eight yards and the Vikings neared the 50-yard line. Mullens converted another first down on a 6-yard throw to Hockenson and — by Sunday’s standards — he had the Vikings offense absolutely rolling.

On third down Mullens found Jordan Addison on a deep out route, putting the Vikings in field goal range with 2:27 remaining.

After a blown up bootleg and completion to Hockenson, Mullens took a delay of game out of a timeout somehow and they finally admitted it was too scary to pass and handed off to Ty Chandler to set up a field goal attempt.

Joseph popped the 36-yarder through and the Raiders would get one last chance with 1:57 left. Some people cheered.

O’Connell’s first pass went right into the arms of Ivan Pace Jr., who played an insanely good game, and that was that.

Normally I try to end these with a big picture statement but what is there to say about this game? Brian Flores’ defense put together another incredible performance and somehow Mullens grinded out just enough offense to come away with the win. Is this going to work against Cincinnati or Detroit or Green Bay? Probably not. But the playoffs are still alive. The Dobbs dream, however, is dead. Half the team is also injured coming out of this game, which makes the track to the postseason even harder.

I suppose the bottom line was that after Kirk Cousins got hurt we should have figured they would have to win some games like this in order to make the playoffs. You can’t help feel like any hope of being dangerous down the stretch went down the drain and the Vikings may have wasted their best defense since 2019.

At least everyone had fun doing other stuff in Vegas.

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