Mistakes and missed opportunities

The Vikings lost to the Ravens despite being given many chances by Baltimore

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By Matthew Coller

MINNEAPOLIS — The problem with the Minnesota Vikings losing to the Baltimore Ravens was not that they failed to defeat a talented team with a Super Bowl champion head coach and one of the top three quarterbacks in the league. The problem was that it felt like the Vikings made life so, so, so much easier on a Ravens team that did not really look like the Baltimore teams of yesteryear.

During the early parts of the game, the Ravens gave up a 62-yard completion to the Vikings. They struggled to get superstar RB Derrick Henry going. It didn’t seem that Lamar Jackson was comfortable or sharp. They dropped passes. They kicked a field goal inside the red zone on fourth-and-short. They gave up multiple fourth down conversions to keep the game alive in the fourth quarter. They botched a chance to run the ball and gave the Vikings another chance.

Yet the Vikings refused to take advantage of any of that.

Instead they returned the favor with many more missteps than Baltimore committed.

Whether it was throwing two interceptions or committing eight false starts or fumbling a kickoff or going 5-for-19 on third or fourth down.

The game was there for the Vikings to be competitive and the Vikings were way too sloppy to be competitive.

And, at the end of the day, they needed more from JJ McCarthy, who finished 20-for-42 with a 54.5 quarterback rating.

Victory in Detroit probably skewed what we thought this team could be. In that game, McCarthy showed so many quality flashes and produced enough in terms of scoring that it felt like even solid defensive play would keep them in a game like this. But the youthful QB looked every bit of his age and experience playing against Baltimore.

McCarthy struggled with accuracy and pocket presence. He had four passes batted down and missed a number of other chances to hit available receivers. Drives that could have turned into touchdowns ended up being field goals. Drives that could have been field goals ended up being turnovers, turnovers on downs or punts.

We did expect that there would be rocky times at the QB position but there were so many preventable mistakes. Whether that came in the form of play calls or simply getting out of the huddle and snapping the ball like a professional football team, there was a stunning amount of ineptitude for a club with this much talent.

A loss to the Ravens doesn’t end their chances at the playoffs in terms of the actual standings and math. The Packers, Lions and Bears aren’t perfect and they have five games against them going forward.

If they can’t reach the 50% completion percentage mark and they refuse to stay with the run and if they are going to allow the defense to get worn down because of a lack of time of possession and turnovers, however, then there isn’t much use talking about this club as a possible playoff team.

McCarthy will be the story of every game and on this day, it was not anywhere close to a storybook ending. The only silver lining is that he played the entire game healthy and made a number of “flash” throws that shined, including a late-game touchdown to Nailor to keep them alive. He took hits and got up. He made a bunch of mistakes and kept pushing. That’s about the best you can do for the bright side. But reality also may have set in that the roller coaster might have too many dips to win five or six of their next eight to make a case for the postseason.

Here’s how it went down…