0-16 baby

[nicksaviking]

I remember when Tony Dungy got hired away, I was regretful that the Vikings couldn't figure out a way to promote him instead. And I remember when Mike Tomlin got hired away, I thought that the Vikings should have been the team to make that bold move and promote him after only that single season as coordinator (though that feeling was aided in part due to my dislike of Brad Childress).

 

But it honestly never occurred to me that I'd resent losing Kevin Stefanski. It looks like he might be a really good head coach.

[Dodecahedron]

It's always something with the Vikings, eh?

 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

How many kicks are we going to miss this game?

 

My pop always thought the excellence of the kicking game took away all the meaningful/interesting strategic 4th down decisions, as does the DH in baseball. So i am at least intrigued to see how our modern team handles the adversity.

[gunnarthor]

 

How many kicks are we going to miss this game?

My pop always thought the excellence of the kicking game took away all the meaningful/interesting strategic 4th down decisions, as does the DH in baseball. So i am at least intrigued to see how our modern team handles the adversity.

I'll guess one.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Made 1 kick!  A PAT no less.

 

(and there was much rejoicing.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

And a field goal!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Another PAT.

 

Not out of this game yet...

[nicksaviking]

 

How many kicks are we going to miss this game?

My pop always thought the excellence of the kicking game took away all the meaningful/interesting strategic 4th down decisions, as does the DH in baseball. So i am at least intrigued to see how our modern team handles the adversity.

 

Based on how this season and this game is going, I'm going to guess he only misses the game winner.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Just as long as he doesn't miss the game tie-er.

 

Someone else can always win the game for the Vikes.

[nicksaviking]

Wow, this 2 minute offense is just bad. Why does this team take so much longer than every other team to get to the line of scrimmage, get set and spike it? I mean every other team can do this minimum 5 seconds quicker than the Vikings.

 

Edit: And zero other teams think that you only have one play left and have to throw a Hail Mary with seven seconds left. Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees could get three plays off in that amount of time.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Oh well.

 

That's that, then, eh?

[sampleSizeOfOne]

 

 

Wow, this 2 minute offense is just bad. Why does this team take so much longer than every other team to get to the line of scrimmage, get set and spike it? I mean every other team can do this minimum 5 seconds quicker than the Vikings.

 

Edit: And zero other teams think that you only have one play left and have to throw a Hail Mary with seven seconds left. Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees could get three plays off in that amount of time.

I bet there are teams as bad us at the 2 minute offense. How are is the Jets' 2 minute drill?

 

But it doesn't get exposed quite the way ours is to such criticism...

[Vanimal46]

What excuse will people give for Zimmer now? Losing a must win game to Mitch Trubisky. My mind has been set on firing him for a while. Hopefully this is the last straw, but I doubt it.

[nicksaviking]

I bet there are teams as bad us at the 2 minute offense. How are is the Jets' 2 minute drill?

 

But it doesn't get exposed quite the way ours is to such criticism...

Well the Vikes seem to need a two minute offense every game; often twice a game. If they don’t want to get criticized for something the competent teams are able to do, then they should have been tanking like the incompetent teams do. It’s a pretty critical aspect of today’s game.

[gunnarthor]

 

Wow, this 2 minute offense is just bad. Why does this team take so much longer than every other team to get to the line of scrimmage, get set and spike it? I mean every other team can do this minimum 5 seconds quicker than the Vikings.

 

Edit: And zero other teams think that you only have one play left and have to throw a Hail Mary with seven seconds left. Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees could get three plays off in that amount of time.

They had some good two minute drives this season as well. I really don't think the offense was the problem today although some of the play-calling was bad. But we scored 27 against a pretty good defense. And even special teams wasn't horrible today.

 

But the defense is really bad. Kendricks makes a big difference, I guess.

[Mike Sixel]

I didn't see the game, but 33 points to the bears? How?

[Danchat]

 

I didn't see the game, but 33 points to the bears? How?

Vikings defense is awful. They can't stop the run or rush the passer, the D-line is incredibly feeble. With Kendricks out, David Montgomery (who missed the first matchup) went nuts with his O-line plowing massive lanes for him. Trubisky has been a lot better than Foles and their OC is starting to improve their playcalling, allowing for their offense to finally utilize their weapons. 

 

I can't say I'm surprised with Kendricks, Barr, Pierce, Hunter, and the CBs who would replace Chris Jones being out the defense is this bad, but I expected Zimmer to at least scheme some of this away. It's a bad combo with how poor the offense has been in 4th quarter comeback scenarios.

[Vanimal46]

Here’s the issue with nepotism in the coaching staff. Is Mike Zimmer going to fire his son for coaching a bad defense? Highly doubtful. Does Zimmer have the intestinal fortitude to fire the Kubiak family running the offense? What a freaking mess.

[TheLeviathan]

Jalen Hurts. I said over and over last offseason to get him.

 

It double hurts (pun intended) watching our team and imagining him throwing to Jefferson for a decade.

[Vanimal46]

Jalen Hurts. I said over and over last offseason to get him.

 

It double hurts (pun intended) watching our team and imagining him throwing to Jefferson for a decade.

And he’s doing this with a vastly worse OL and WR group than the Vikings. If that isn’t a wake up call to ditch Kirk the statue for a mobile QB, I don’t know what is.

[Mike Sixel]

I can't believe how wrong I was about Justin Herbert .....

[Danchat]

 

Jalen Hurts. I said over and over last offseason to get him.

It double hurts (pun intended) watching our team and imagining him throwing to Jefferson for a decade.

Yup, I ranked him high on my rookie QB rankings, and he looks great. He also single-handedly won me a fantasy playoff game! We knew he was likely going in the 2nd round, but the Vikings were never going to take him since they padlocked themselves to Cousins and had to address needs (getting an O-lineman in the 2nd round was incredibly important... but good teams don't draft by need). 

 

I'm not exactly sure what happened to Wentz, perhaps he lost most of his mobility after the 2017 ACL tear, but he was playing simply awful this year. He just lost it once the hits started to rack up on him. Hurts looks like a godsend, and suddenly the Eagles have to find out how to get rid of Wentz and his $128M extension that starts in 2021. Good look!

[Otto von Ballpark]

538 pegs our playoff odds at 2% now. Our only scenario requires us to win 2, Arizona to lose 2, and the Bears to lose at least 1. Sounds unlikely, and is unlikely -- but not impossible!

 

The biggest hurdle will actually be the first one, this Friday (Christmas Day) -- Vikings at Saints. Saints are 82% likely to win that game, per 538. If we can pull off that upset, our playoff odds improve to 10%. The next biggest hurdle would be the following day, Saturday -- Arizona is 66% to win at home vs 49ers. If the 49ers can pull off that upset too, the Vikings would be back to 33% playoff odds -- basically the same as the Cardinals and Bears at that point. (Bears would get a little edge if they beat the Jaguars as expected this weekend, though.)

 

The rest of the forecasted outcomes are currently favorable to the Vikings -- in week 17, the Bears are 65% to lose vs Green Bay, Arizona is 61% to lose on the road to the Rams, and the Vikings are 64% to win vs the Lions.

[TheLeviathan]

 

I can't believe how wrong I was about Justin Herbert .....

 

I also thought he would be hot garbage.  He's been remarkable.  I was WAY off on him.

[TheLeviathan]

 

And he’s doing this with a vastly worse OL and WR group than the Vikings. If that isn’t a wake up call to ditch Kirk the statue for a mobile QB, I don’t know what is.

 

 

They had the perfect opportunity to move this franchise forward.  They could've drafted Jefferson, moved their next pick back (no opposition from Rick on that one!), and then drafted Hurts, Cleveland, and snagged another corner later.  

 

We wrecked it all by giving everyone extensions like it was Halloween candy.  Cousins was about to be a lame-duck QB, Hurts would've slid right in, and we would've had a boatload of money to build around him and a scary set of weapons.

 

Can you imagine how dangerous our bootlegs would be with Hurts running them?  Or the playaction threat he would instantly become with the defense honed in on Cook and a spy set for him?  The middle of the field would've been easy pickings.  It's so....damn....frustrating.

 

Over at Purple Pain that was my entire offseason plan: no extensions, one year prove it situation.  If they prove it....we carry on.  If we don't...have the pieces for a new run.  My plans always involved going OL, CB, trade up for Hurts, pick a WR later.  Now, I wasn't a fan of Jefferson because of the WR depth in this last draft (I had my eyes on Duvernay and Claypool....would still be quite happy with them too!), but the key to everything was hitching our future to Hurts at the ridiculously awesome price of a 2nd round pick.  

 

Instead, we did the one thing we couldn't do: hand out extensions and draft accordingly. 

[Vanimal46]

They had the perfect opportunity to move this franchise forward. They could've drafted Jefferson, moved their next pick back (no opposition from Rick on that one!), and then drafted Hurts, Cleveland, and snagged another corner later.

 

We wrecked it all by giving everyone extensions like it was Halloween candy. Cousins was about to be a lame-duck QB, Hurts would've slid right in, and we would've had a boatload of money to build around him and a scary set of weapons.

 

Can you imagine how dangerous our bootlegs would be with Hurts running them? Or the playaction threat he would instantly become with the defense honed in on Cook and a spy set for him? The middle of the field would've been easy pickings. It's so....damn....frustrating.

 

Over at Purple Pain that was my entire offseason plan: no extensions, one year prove it situation. If they prove it....we carry on. If we don't...have the pieces for a new run. My plans always involved going OL, CB, trade up for Hurts, pick a WR later. Now, I wasn't a fan of Jefferson because of the WR depth in this last draft (I had my eyes on Duvernay and Claypool....would still be quite happy with them too!), but the key to everything was hitching our future to Hurts at the ridiculously awesome price of a 2nd round pick.

 

Instead, we did the one thing we couldn't do: hand out extensions and draft accordingly.

Yep, we had very similar plans. I wasn’t as high on Hurts as you. All I wanted was to play out the original terms of Kirk’s 3 year contract and move on. And no extensions until a reset button is pressed in the organization. I’ve hated every extension we’ve given over the last 2-3 years. Rudolph’s extension is still coming to bite us in the rear. His contract will carry a hefty dead cap hit. Anthony Barr’s contract started this whole salary cap hell. Kirk’s extension is going to kill this team for 3 years if they don’t cut him immediately after the league year resets. And Dalvin’s extension is going to kill us 2-3 years from now. I never had any doubt Cook was going to be great in year 4. I have every doubt he will be able to keep this up in 2022.

 

The only way I see us getting out of this mess is the Vikings getting blown out the final 2 games, finish 6-10, and Wilf has an epiphany that the people in charge need to go.

[TheLeviathan]

I don't even think Spielman or Zimmer are bad, but they get too comfortable and too loyal.  They are too risk averse to take the kind of swings that take you from 7-9 to 13-3, instead we sit between 8-8 and 10-6 every year.

 

Jalen Hurts was tied as my second favorite QB with Tua.  I would've happily taken him in the first much less at 53 where the Eagles did.  I comped him to Watson, that comp looks really good right now.

 

And my god would he take Kubiak's offense to another level.

[gunnarthor]

Cousins isn't the problem. He has a 102 rating on the season, which is 8th overall. Hurts rating in his big game was 102 for the game.

 

The offense is fine. Our defense and special teams(!) are horrific and our coaching is a bit iffy at times.

 

Hurts has, what, two starts? Probably a bit early to size him up for that HOF jacket.

[Vanimal46]

Cousins isn't the problem. He has a 102 rating on the season, which is 8th overall.

There is the rub. Cousins throughout his career has the shiny counting stats that makes him look like a good QB.

 

The Vikings are 25th in first half PPG, and 1st in 2nd half PPG. For whatever reason, they start every game establishing the run, and throwing passes short of the sticks. Once they’re 2-3 scores behind, they finally start calling plays that stretch the field. Then, once again, start controlling the clock running the ball.

 

This offense isn’t nearly consistent enough. They rank high in explosive plays, but it only shows up in spurts. Kirk still contributes a ton of drives with 5 or less plays, often taking sacks in the process.

 

The defense sucks, no doubt, but the offense also puts them in bad spots with Kirk curling up in the fetal position when he feels pressure, and turnovers.

[gunnarthor]

 

There is the rub. Cousins throughout his career has the shiny counting stats that makes him look like a good QB.

The Vikings are 25th in first half PPG, and 1st in 2nd half PPG. For whatever reason, they start every game establishing the run, and throwing passes short of the sticks. Once they’re 2-3 scores behind, they finally start calling plays that stretch the field. Then, once again, start controlling the clock running the ball.

This offense isn’t nearly consistent enough. They rank high in explosive plays, but it only shows up in spurts. Kirk still contributes a ton of drives with 5 or less plays, often taking sacks in the process.

The defense sucks, no doubt, but the offense also puts them in bad spots with Kirk curling up in the fetal position when he feels pressure, and turnovers.

Ironically, a lot of that describes how the Eagles game started as well.

 

It isn't Cousins fault that the coaching staff is calling a run heavy early game. That probably cost us the Bucs game and probably a few others. Zimmer-ball ain't doing us any favors. But if Hurts was our QB, that wouldn't change, in fact we'd be hearing about how it's necessary to support a young QB.

 

But Cousins has been a pretty good QB this year. He isn't the reason we have a losing record.