Vikings Lose Close one in Kansas City

In a game where some of the best players are out you never know what to expect. The Chiefs were without Patrick Mahomes and the Vikings were without Adam Thielen. Both offenses made their adjustments and it showed. The Chiefs didn’t have their exciting downfield attack and the Vikings didn’t have their 1-2 punch at wide receiver. The teams traded blows all game long and being a little “off” at times made the game more interesting then it should have been. Matt Moore for the Chiefs had some great throws and and got bailed out by his receivers at times and a rare breakdown by the Vikings defense allowed a 91 yard touchdown by Damien Williams that was probably the most defining play of the game. The Vikings weren’t bad they were just … off.

Kirk Cousins didn’t play terribly , but he was off target on a few passes. Sideline reporter, Ben Leber said the wind was swirling quite a bit on the field so that was part of it. However Cousins seemed a little amped up and was throwing too quickly at times before he kind of settled in on both fronts. He still threw for 220 yards and 3 touchdowns with no turnovers. Dalvin Cook was pretty quiet today as well as he only had 71 yards on 21 carries and 4 catches for 45 yards and zero touchdowns. Kyle Rudolph, Bisi Johnson and Laquon Treadwell stepped well in the shoes of Thielen, but Stephon Diggs was basically double and triple teamed the entire game to hold him to only one catch. Special teams was a bit of a concern today as well. Now, they did cause and recover a fumble when Mike Hughes jarred the ball loose on the return and recently reinstated cornerback, Holton Hill recovered it. Dan Bailey missed an extra point and Mike Hughes muffed a punt – although he recovered it. The worst was Britton Colquit had a terrible punt at the end of the game that basically let the Chiefs have the ball on a short field and in field goal range. He was trying to keep the ball away from the dangerous Tyreek Hill and he over compensated.

My main concerns was the coaching on the Vikings final drive. They basically had to drive the field to run the clock out and put a seven or a 3 on the board and the Chiefs. With the struggles the offense was having I thought the plays that were called put them in the worst position to be successful. The first was a roll out that had pressure on Cousins so quickly that he had to throw the ball away. The next was a tight end screen to Irv Smith that the Chiefs were waiting on and I knew was coming as well. With the loss of yardage on that play it caused the final play to be a “safe” running play that basically went nowhere. You can’t put your players in a position where they struggle and expect them to suddenly flourish. Worse was being predictable so it made it easier for the defense to key on the plays.

Whether or not you had this game on your schedule as a loss for the Vikings they had a chance to win this game. Kansas City is a very good team, especially at home so when you have a chance to take them down you have to do it. Had the Vikings cleaned up their play a little bit they would be coming home with a win. Instead it’s a loss and the climb to get to the top of the division just got a bit more difficult.