It’s hard to be positive about this team’s current state. The Minnesota Vikings lose to the Detroit Lions, 34-23. Minnesota stumbles to 10-3, and the Lions rise to 6-7. An ugly loss, especially on the defensive side, that proved every assumption and hot take about the Vikings. I hope that this team sees today that high-end talent can’t bail them out in every waking scenario.
First is offense, and I’ve got to bring the only good things in this game up first. Kirk Cousins threw for 425 yards and, more importantly, Justin Jefferson set a new franchise record with 223 yards receiving. However, that’s exactly the high-end talent I was talking about earlier. Dalvin Cook didn’t even get 30 yards on 15 attempts (a one and a half yard-per attempt clip), and the deeply injured offensive line didn’t do him any favors. Cook also critically fumbled on the goal line near the end of the first half, turning all of Minnesota’s possible game-tying momentum into dust. All things considered, though, a pretty solid offensive output. If that’s so, how did we lose so obviously?
This side of the ball doesn’t deserve to be called a “unit” and the substitute teacher that we’ve been fooled to believe as this “unit’s” “coordinator” is completely useless. The true creme de la creme of this sorry excuse for a group of professional football players is Josh Metellus starting to fight with Penei Sewell, Detroit’s right guard, because Sewell lined up at WIDE RECEIVER, ran MOTION across the ENTIRE OFFENSIVE LINE, and caught a pass and RAN INTO THE GAME-SEALING FIRST DOWN. This was not a trick play, and it was not a disguised play. The Minnesota Vikings watched an offensive lineman line up and not only let him catch the ball, but let him effectively end the game. Our favorite substitute teacher continues to not utilize the incredible defensive line and send any sort of pressure packages, resulting in zero sacks and only three QB hits. Horrendous. Disgusting. Almost any word with a negative connotation lines up with the defense’s performance today.
At least Greg Joseph grows his flawless kicking streak to two games? Surprisingly, Minnesota only punted three times, so ROTY Ryan Wright didn’t have many chances to build his illustrious resume. This game was the biggest epitomization of what the Vikings really are, at least currently. They won’t fix problems, and if they never do, they’ll fulfill another title given by those involved in football: a first round exit.
