Vikings earned bad breaks in loss to Bucs
Yes, the Vikings got screwed by refs and a kicker but put themselves in position to lose
Let’s get this out of the way: Yes, it was the kicker’s fault. Yes, it was the refs. But the Minnesota Vikings absolutely earned every bit of their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday by playing the same way they played last week against Jacksonville. The difference: The Bucs have Tom Brady and Jacksonville had Mike Glennon and Brady made them pay.
The Vikings’ effort to give Tampa Bay every opportunity to win began on the first drive of the game. On third-and-4 from the 32-yard line, guard Dakota Dozier was beat quickly and Kirk Cousins took an 8-yard sack to take them out of field goal position.
Brady did the Vikings a favor on his opening drive by overthrowing wide open Rob Gronkowski and going three-and-out.
The following drive would have led you to believe that the Vikings were going to steamroll Tampa Bay’s defense. Cousins hit Adam Thielen wide open for a 15-yard gain, Dalvin Cook slashed through the Bucs’ D-line for a 14-yard gain and even Mike Boone and Ameer Abdullah got in the mix on a 14-play drive that took 8:15 off the clock and finished with the Vikings in the end zone.
Dan Bailey missed the extra point, signaling that he hadn’t fixed whatever ailed him when shanking three kicks last week vs. Jacksonville.
Brady again missed an open receiver on third down, giving the ball back to the Vikings.
This is where the game swung. Cousins opened up the drive with a 17-yard throw to Justin Jefferson, who shed tackles like a running back to pick up a big gain. And then Cook broke off a 12-yard run to get the Vikings in Tampa Bay territory.
But the Vikings again missed out on an opportunity to score. Cousins took a sack on third-and-7 at the Tampa Bay 11-yard line, forcing a field goal. Bailey shanked the kick wide right.
Three dominant drives, six points. That’s not the way to beat Tom Brady.
And boy did Brady let them know that on the next drive. The legendary quarterback showed he still has some arm strength left, delivering a 48-yard touchdown to Scott Miller to give the Bucs the lead.
Again, the Vikings’ offense moved the ball though. A 15-yard pass to Tyler Conkling. A 14-yard run by Cook. But on third-and-10 at the Tampa Bay 31, they called timeout and then immediately jumped offside coming out of the timeout.
Cousins then threw an inaccurate pass to Jefferson, who had smoked his defender and the Vikings lined up for another field goal. At that point, there was a better case for punting the ball away and pinning the Bucs considering Bailey’s struggles. Instead Mike Zimmer gave his kicker one last shot and he missed very, very wide right.
Brady made them pay again — this time with some help from the referees. On third-and-6, the Vikings stopped LeSean McCoy short of the first down marker but Harrison Smith was called for lowering his head to initiate contact. He’s been called multiple times for such penalties this year, giving the indication that he’s on the referee pre-game scouting report.
Jeff Gladney then interfered with receiver Mike Evans in the end zone and the Bucs smashed the ball in from the 1-yard line to give them a 14-6 lead.
More ref issues were on the way, with some help from Vikings mistakes. On the next drive, the Vikings only took 15 seconds off the clock, setting up a Brady Hail Mary attempt before the end of the half. The Vikings were inexplicably called for pass interference in the end zone, giving the Bucs a free field goal.
The game was far from over when the Bucs took the ball to start the second half but the Vikings’ defense was not up to the challenge. They allowed back-to-back third down conversions and then a 29-yard throw down the sideline to Evans, setting up a Gronk touchdown.
While the Vikings’ offense started rolling on the next drive, they also began running the clock out on themselves. It took 15 plays and 8:33 seconds for the Vikings to find the end zone and bring themselves within 23-14.
For whatever reason, the Vikings’ receivers were an afterthought when they were trailing. Neither Jefferson or Thielen received a single target on the 15-play drive that saw Conklin and CJ Ham get targets.
Despite the shortage of time and numerous errors, the Vikings kept themselves in the game with a key third down stop by Gladney. Again they began methodically moving the ball toward Tampa Bay’s end zone but once the Vikings reached scoring position, sacks came again at the worst times.
Cousins was taken down on back-to-back plays for a total of 16 yards lost. Bailey missed again, putting the dagger in his team’s back.
But once again, it wasn’t just Bailey making the mistake. The Vikings failed to protect Cousins (and he held the ball too long on some occasions) when they were given numerous opportunities to score touchdowns rather than settle for field goals.
You can put the loss on Bailey, who probably won’t be a Viking tomorrow, but settling for field goals on four different occasions when the offense is rolling is not the way to beat good teams, even if the kicker is not suffering a meltdown. Neither is failing to pressure the quarterback or giving up repeated explosive plays and third-down conversions on defense.
Appropriately, the Vikings’ last-ditch effort late in the fourth quarter was stifled by a Jason Pierre-Paul strip sack.
After last week’s game, Mike Zimmer worried that his team was playing with fire by making mistakes and getting themselves down in games. His fears came to fruition on Sunday.
Now the question is: Did this game prove that the Vikings aren’t playoff worthy? They still have two NFC North games and a Christmas day matchup with a loaded New Orleans Saints team.
At this point, it’s tough to argue that the Vikings will suddenly become anything different than what they were against the Cowboys/Panthers/Jaguars/Bucs — a team that repeatedly shoots themselves in the foot. Whether they can overcome those self-inflicted wounds or not just depends on the quality of competition.
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They were very lucky today they weren't playing a younger version Brady or this game would've been uglier than it was. But a great read Mathew under the circumstances. Has to be very different to write after a game like this.
What next? Baily costs us 13 points... THE GAME... Cousins remains the rolodex... takes 6 sacks 4 of which were avoidable easily... rushes for more yards than expected, completely misses seeing wide-open WRs then makes sensational passes. I still see him as undependable regardless how well he did in November. We should have won this game. My guess is Bailey will be on the street but there's really no rhyme or reason for his misses. We truly killed ourselves. On the positive side the rushing yards were great. Cook did much better than forecasted. Our rookies played better. The 2021 preseason is progressing.