Missed Opportunities and Bad Decisions Doom Vikings

The old saying goes, “They shot themselves in the foot.” The Vikings started the game unloading that gun by letting the Packers score on their first 3 drives and being down 21-0 in the first half. Then Dalvin Cook busted off a 75 yard touchdown run and things seemed to settle down. The Vikings kept battling and getting their offense moving and they finally did by riding their star running back. Then they reloaded and made too many mistakes to take a victory home from Lambeau Field, …. and they know it.

It seemed every time the Vikings did something positive they found a way to buffer it with something negative. Cousins got a pass out to Chad Beebe at the last second and he ran it down to the 5 for 61 yards. Cornerback Jairie Alexander took a cheap shot at Adam Thielen and Adam took exception to it. From what I saw it looked like Thielen kind of kicked at Alexander – they didn’t show a replay so I can only go by what I saw breifly. Even though the refs saw both infractions and they offset and didn’t harm the Vikings it still put a tarnish on it. Later, Stephon Diggs caught a dart from Kirk Cousins in the end zone and put six more points on the board. He was emotional, and he let that emotion get the best of him and he removed his helmet which pushed the extra point attempt back. It subsequently got blocked and that also put a damper on a close scoring game. I think Zimmer will be having a talk with his team over this.

The referees in this game …… oh boy, I shudder to even start typing about this. The refs were NOT the reason the Vikings lost this game. When Diggs clearly caught another touchdown the automatic review came back and said there was pass interference by Dalvin Cook. It wasn’t. However, this is what the NFL has done to the game by putting in new, overreacting rules to a bad call last year. It took a Vikings touchdown off the board and they settled for a field goal. There were some questionable calls, but what was more distressing is there were calls where the refs just sounded like they didn’t even know what they were calling. That’s hurting the game and the league, and it will ruin a great game by some team just because they overreact to the social media hordes. Then they’ll change their view of it when it’s too late.

Positives in this game: the defense came alive and didn’t allow another score the rest of the game, sacked Rodgers, and had a fumble recovery that got things going, but it was too late. Rodgers was getting flustered and was kept contained and when he did get out of the pocket he was under duress and couldn’t get the completions he usually kills teams with when he’s out there. Devante Adams was having a career day as well, but didn’t have another catch until the final drive in the 4th quarter. Dalvin Cook also had 154 yards on the ground and a touchdown and the offensive line kept him moving forward with their zone blocking scheme. The pass blocking improved as the game went on, but could be better.

Kirk Cousins will get the bulk of the blame here as quarterbacks always do, and he threw that last interception instead of putting the ball out of the endzone. He did not have a great game. However, Stephon Diggs dropped an easy pass on an earlier drive and I feel the wide receivers for the Vikings were overly emotional in this game and didn’t seem focused. It’s hard to explain, but just a feeling I was getting as I watched. I will also call out the coaching staff as well on that last drive. Cook and Alexander Mattison were carving and punishing the Packers defense on the ground and for some reason, on first down the coaches called a pass play. I get the whole, “they’re expecting us to run so let’s throw” thought process, but why leave what’s working for a riskier play? I think they out coached themselves there. They had the defense reeling with the run. Keep them there!

The Vikings play the Oakland Raiders at home next Sunday, but even if they win they’re going to go through the season knowing they let this one get away from them. Reload I guess.