Murphy: A cruel victory
Brian Murphy writes about the Vikings dominating performance and a reminder of how this could have gone
By Brian Murphy
It was loud and unapologetically violent. Snoop Dogg was damn good, too.
While Snoop entertained the halftime masses Christmas Day and cemented his only-in-America-status as a 21st century Bob Hope, Brian Flores and the Vikings defense spent four quarters remixing Jared Goff’s worst memories, dropping blitzes like bass lines and letting Harrison Smith and his posse do the talking.
What unfurled at U.S. Bank Stadium was a nationally streamed reminder that for the last two months Minnesota has fielded one of the nastiest, most disruptive defenses in the NFL, tossing another log on the roaring fire of what ifs for 2025.
Against a Lions team that arrived with playoff hopes and a quarterback enjoying a near-MVP statistical season, Flores’ unit turned the game into a slow, grinding snuff film.
Goff entered with 32 touchdowns and five interceptions. He left looking like a man who’d just survived a greatest-hits compilation of pressure packages. Five sacks. Six turnovers. Three lost fumbles. Two interceptions. One Smith pick that felt inevitable the moment Goff glanced at his hot read.
If Flores wanted to make a final statement as he heads into the last game of his Vikings contract, this was a memorable mic drop. Explosions everywhere. Absolutely no subtlety. A closing argument worthy of igniting settlement talks between Flores and the NFL owners.
Lest anyone forget Flores has been fortifying his resume as a coordinator in Minnesota while suing the league, claiming he and other Black coaches were subjected to sham interviews and unequal treatment that limited their opportunities for head coaching jobs.
Negotiating through deposition doesn’t exactly resonate among the wealthy backslappers who are used to giving orders, not taking them. Flores, who had one head coaching opportunity go poof in Miami, is ready for his encore.
Week 17 was a defensive masterpiece against a desperate team that had nowhere to hide. Detroit never got comfortable. Jahmyr Gibbs didn’t run free. Their wafer-thin offensive line didn’t hold up.
The Vikings didn’t just beat blocks, they erased them. Pressure came from everywhere; with every disguise Flores could fit into the call sheet. It’s been the defining trait of this defense for weeks now.
Over the second half of the season, when healthy, this unit hasn’t just been good. It’s been dominant. Terrifying, even. Hauntingly familiar.
The Vikings have given up barely more than 12 points per game during their four-game winning streak, climbed into the league’s elite in pass defense, and went six straight games without allowing a passing touchdown before finally blinking in the second quarter. That doesn’t happen by accident.
It happens when players believe in the guy calling the shots. And when the head coach refuses to let the season quit on itself.
Kevin O’Connell deserves credit here, even if it comes with an asterisk shaped like a quarterback depth chart. The Vikings are 8-8, injured everywhere that matters, technically eliminated and they still show up week after week.
They didn’t quit on Flores. They didn’t quit on O’Connell. They didn’t quit on a season that’s been held together by spackle, Will Reichard’s right leg and defensive violence.
That matters. The cruel part is how obviously good this season could have been but for … sigh.
If the Vikings had anything resembling consistent quarterback play, their Week 18 clash with the Packers at home would be another meaningful grudge match. Not hypothetically. Not sentimentally. Actually. This defense, playing like this, would have been feared in January.
Instead, field goals felt like celebrations and first-and-20 felt like a death sentence.
Through it all, the vibe inside the stadium felt less like a lost season and more like a strange holiday block party. Snoop provided the soundtrack. Flores gave the orders. The defense swung the wrecking ball.
No holiday cheer. No apologies. Just a reminder, set to a familiar beat, of what this team could be when in harmony.
Great article Murph 👏 Sad part of most of this year except for the Dallas Washington games someone else has won the game than QB play.
For of all sad words of tongue or pen,The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’”