Vikings grinded down by Browns
Key mistakes and ineffective pass blocking cost the Vikings at home
By Matthew Coller
MINNEAPOLIS — In a game that was built up as a battle of two exciting young offensive play callers, it was the Cleveland Browns’ defense that beat down the Minnesota Vikings en route to a 14-7 Browns victory at US Bank Stadium.
The Vikings’ offense sputtered as Cleveland’s monster defensive line consistently pressured Kirk Cousins throughout but the Vikings compounded things with numerous lapses that shifted the complexion of the game.
The loss also put their some of the Vikings’ weaknesses on full display.
To start the game, you wouldn’t have guessed that any offensive issues would be revealed. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak designed a brilliant opening script for Cousins. He hit Justin Jefferson twice for gains of nine and 11 yards and then found Adam Thielen wide open for a 22-yard completion. After Mike Zimmer decided to go for it on fourth down, he was rewarded with a touchdown pass to Jefferson to give the Vikings an early 7-0 lead. The drive took 14 plays and wore 7:34 off the clock.
Following the next Browns drive, it would have seemed the Vikings had all the momentum to put Cleveland in an early grave. The Browns grinded their way to the red zone but Kevin Stefanski’s attempt to answer Zimmer’s aggressiveness but he didn’t receive the same results as Everson Griffen sacked Baker Mayfield to give the offense the ball back.
That’s when the problems began. Cleveland’s viscous defensive line blew up two pass plays before they got off the ground and stuffed a clearly dinged-up Dalvin Cook for a 1-yard gain.
But the Vikings’ defense responded with a three-and-out of their own and the Minnesota offense got another chance to put Cleveland down two scores. Zimmer’s second attempt to push the fourth-down button did not succeed as Cousins was pressured and missed Thielen.
The offense would never get back in a rhythm after that. Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney haunted Cousins and the Vikings’ O-line for the rest of the day.
Speaking of haunted, the Vikings’ execution at the ends of halves has been highly questionable at times this season. On this occasion, a pair of mistakes resulted in Cleveland getting two scores.
Midway through the second quarter, the Browns began playing a bullying style that the Vikings couldn’t solve. They ran repeatedly with Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb 13 times on their way to their first touchdown. But not before the Vikings had their first major gaffe. Zimmer’s defense appeared to stop Mayfield again on fourth down on the door step but Eric Kendricks committed a defensive holding penalty, allowing Cleveland another shot to slam the ball over the goal line.
And then the Vikings made another pair of errors, this time in bizarre fashion. First they attempted to call a timeout that they didn’t have (shoutout to Chris Webber here). That brought about a penalty which moved them closer and Stefanski elected to go for two. Mayfield found a wide open target to put the Browns up 8-7.
With under two minutes left, the Vikings went from bad to worse by only running 31 seconds off the clock. They punted back to Cleveland with 0:45 remaining. After a holding penalty, the Browns were ready to take things to the half with a third-and-20 run. Except on this day, the rebuilt run defense was nowhere to be found. Hunt gained a first down, setting up a field goal to put the Browns up by four points.
At that point, the 1990s called and asked to have their second half back.
The first eight drives went like this: Punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt.
But the Vikings mixed in some serious missed opportunities in between. Cousins had a 36-yard completion to Jefferson called back because of a holding on tight end Tyler Conklin. Somehow Conklin was left on an island against Myles Garrett and the expected result came to fruition.
On the outside of field goal position, receiver KJ Osborn pushed off on a deep pass, taking the Vikings out of field goal position.
In between, Cousins was repeatedly under duress. The Vikings’ offensive line, which was solid against Arizona and Seattle, was no match for the Browns in the run or pass game. Cousins’s average depth of pass was just 4.1 yards into the fourth quarter.
The Vikings’ defense did all sorts of bending but no breaking in the second half. With just over six minutes left, they batted down a Mayfield pass in Minnesota territory to force a 53-yard field goal. But former Viking Chase McLaughlin knocked it down to put Cleveland up by a touchdown.
Klint Kubiak decided to go for broke to open a pivotal late-fourth quarter drive. Cousins heaved a ball up for Thielen but it came up short and landed in the hands of Greedy Williams for an interception.
It appeared the Vikings were on the ropes at that point but Stefanski had a wacky decision or two of his own in store. On the Minnesota side of the field, the ex-Viking coordinator took back-to-back deep shots downfield and both fell incomplete. Considering Mayfield’s struggles throughout the day and the Vikings’ struggles to stop the run, it made little sense to fire the ball deep downfield.
Cousins made his former OC pay right away, delivering a beautiful sideline pass to Jefferson for a 31-yard gain to put the Vikings in position to tie the game.
But the Browns’ D-line did it again. On third-and-3, Cousins’s pass was batted down and then on fourth down he was quickly pressured and threw the ball to nobody.
Stefanski gave the Vikings one more chance by inexplicably stopping the clock on another throw downfield. Cleveland then committed a pass interference penalty that continued to keep the game alive with 27 seconds remaining. A completion to Thielen at the 32-yard line gave them a final shot at the end zone. Cousins’s throw came up short and the Vikings dropped their third one-score game of the year.
The biggest question heading into Sunday’s game was whether the Vikings could go toe-to-toe with a real contender — a team with a violent defense and an offensive line good enough to run all day. We have our answer, even though Cleveland gave them chance after chance after chance to win the game.
At 1-3, the season isn’t over. But the loss to the Browns is a blow to the idea that their weaknesses can be covered up by clean pockets and homefield advantage.
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Great article Mathew but another very disappointing Sunday afternoon
I’ve officially left the station and it’s time to clean house with head coach and GM. The continued comedy of errors and coaching malpractice weekly is a joke. Zimmer really said the run defense was good today when Browns could have named the score they wanted if they had chosen to never throw the ball? Did he really say Kirk checked down to Conklin with 8 seconds left to get them in better position for a hail Mary from 26 yard line? He’s in job save mode and it’s clear he doesn’t have his fast ball anymore. His 3rd down defense is atrocious, he doesn’t know what to do before the half and as always the timeouts are an adventure