It’s not a recipe for success if your defense can’t get off the field on 3rd and 7, 3rd and 8, and 3rd and 9. It was way too easy for Goff. Barely any pressure on him. 

What happened to ZaDarius Smith? He’s been quiet for weeks. Danielle Hunter is so out of place in a 3-4 defense. 

Just now, Mike Sixel said:

Despite the awful defense, this game was winnable. Terrible play call at the end of the half. Running on first and over. Dropped passes 

They were bound to lose a close one, injuries, hard to sweep divisional teams, and a defense that relies on red zone stops. Too much against them today. That defense may work against mediocre teams but a good offense can pick it apart. Detroit could make the playoffs, the Vikings should tighten up the D but I’m thinking you have to fire Donatell, I don’t think he’s going to change his approach

6 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

It’s not a recipe for success if your defense can’t get off the field on 3rd and 7, 3rd and 8, and 3rd and 9. It was way too easy for Goff. Barely any pressure on him. 

What happened to ZaDarius Smith? He’s been quiet for weeks. Danielle Hunter is so out of place in a 3-4 defense. 

Agreed 

5 minutes ago, LVTwinsfan said:

They were bound to lose a close one, injuries, hard to sweep divisional teams, and a defense that relies on red zone stops. Too much against them today. That defense may work against mediocre teams but a good offense can pick it apart. Detroit could make the playoffs, the Vikings should tighten up the D but I’m thinking you have to fire Donatell, I don’t think he’s going to change his approach

I agree. 

49 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

It’s not a recipe for success if your defense can’t get off the field on 3rd and 7, 3rd and 8, and 3rd and 9. It was way too easy for Goff. Barely any pressure on him. 

What happened to ZaDarius Smith? He’s been quiet for weeks. Danielle Hunter is so out of place in a 3-4 defense. 

They’ve combined for 1 sack in the past 4 weeks, I don’t think Smith has been the same since his knee injury. Winning has also gone back to being completely useless as a pass rusher. To me, fixing the pass rush is the key to everything, this secondary, nay the whole scheme  is totally reliant on it.

11 minutes ago, Danchat said:

They’ve combined for 1 sack in the past 4 weeks, I don’t think Smith has been the same since his knee injury. Winning has also gone back to being completely useless as a pass rusher. To me, fixing the pass rush is the key to everything, this secondary, nay the whole scheme  is totally reliant on it.

Agreed, they gotta find a way to generate more pressure on the QB. Maybe it’s time to give Patrick Jones more reps and rest ZaDarius for the playoff run. 

“Mr irrelevant” Brock Purdy and the niners are blowing out the bucs.

Anything less than the 2 seed and the Vikings won’t get past the second round. If that.

While it might be satisfying to see a change at DC, at this point in the season I think any improvement would be marginal at best. Some talent is not producing (Hunter/z smith), but there just isn’t much else after the injuries etc to make that much of a difference 

5 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

“Mr irrelevant” Brock Purdy and the niners are blowing out the bucs.

Anything less than the 2 seed and the Vikings won’t get past the second round. If that.

Oof, not two minutes after I typed this, looks like deebo Samuel may have blown up his knee. Carted off.

Niners 28-0 at half. Oofda. Good teams take care of business.

Best teams in the NFC according to me:

eagles

49ers

cowboys

vikings

Commanders

seahawks

bucs

lions

giants

 

I would favor the Vikings to win a playoff game against seattle, Tampa and the giants. Slight favorites over Washington and the lions because of the home field in round one.

Finish as the third seed and it’ll be a divisional round exit. Highly doubt we could go into Philly or SF and win a road playoff game

42 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Best teams in the NFC according to me:

eagles

49ers

cowboys

vikings

Commanders

seahawks

bucs

lions

giants

 

I would favor the Vikings to win a playoff game against seattle, Tampa and the giants. Slight favorites over Washington and the lions because of the home field in round one.

Finish as the third seed and it’ll be a divisional round exit. Highly doubt we could go into Philly or SF and win a road playoff game

Can’t disagree with your rankings right now. Still 4 weeks left to shape the final thoughts. This was kind of a whacky week in the NFC. Dallas nearly lost to a no talent Texans team. Seattle lost to the lowly Carolina Panthers. Someone’s gonna have to win the NFC South, and if it’s Tampa they will be curb stomped in the first round. 

For the Vikings, I would like to see more 4-3 fronts for the rest of the season to improve what’s going on defensively. It’s clear we don’t have the personnel to make an ideal Donatell defense work. 

I think our ceiling is getting blown out in the NFC Championship against (at) the Eagles, but it seems increasingly possible that we drop a playoff game at home.

2 hours ago, Musk21 said:

I think our ceiling is getting blown out in the NFC Championship against (at) the Eagles, but it seems increasingly possible that we drop a playoff game at home.

I know it will suck to watch them lose in the playoffs.... But that's a huge step forward from last year 

 

2 hours ago, Musk21 said:

I think our ceiling is getting blown out in the NFC Championship against (at) the Eagles, but it seems increasingly possible that we drop a playoff game at home.

They won’t get to the NFCCG if they finish with the 3 seed, which is looking increasingly likely with a couple divisional road games left and game on Saturday with a team coming off a bye. You simply can’t hide a terrible defense in the NFL, and the Vikings have now moved into dead last in yards allowed and 2nd to last in yards/play.

Why you would hire an ultra young offensive minded coach in his first head coaching job and then hire a guy who’s been a DC for over 20 years is a head scratcher.

19 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

 

I'd throw deep every play against this defense. Every. Play.

19 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I know it will suck to watch them lose in the playoffs.... But that's a huge step forward from last year 

I don’t know, I feel like I’ve seen this movie 100 times. By the time the defense improves, the offense is probably going to take steps back. Cook and thielen seem to be past their prime. Kirk is already 34. Guys like JJ and hockenson are great pieces but the Oline is still not good.

Even on the defensive side of the ball, Kendricks seems to be nearly done, HSmith is great but won’t stick around much longer. ZSmith and Hunter have been ghosts. There is a ton of work to do on defense.

To borrow a real estate term (which I hate), the Vikings franchise always has “good bones”, quality pieces that other franchises lack. But they just can’t put it all together at once. I dont know why but it’s been happening for 60+ years. I marvel at a team like SF who is on their third QB and laid an absolute beat down on Tom Brady and Tampa. When was the last time the Vikings went out and just dominated someone from start to finish? 

1 minute ago, Aggies7 said:

I don’t know, I feel like I’ve seen this movie 100 times. By the time the defense improves, the offense is probably going to take steps back. Cook and thielen seem to be past their prime. Kirk is already 34. Guys like JJ and hockenson are great pieces but the Oline is still not good.

Even on the defensive side of the ball, Kendricks seems to be nearly done, HSmith is great but won’t stick around much longer. ZSmith and Hunter have been ghosts. There is a ton of work to do on defense.

To borrow a real estate term (which I hate), the Vikings franchise always has “good bones”, quality pieces that other franchises lack. But they just can’t put it all together at once. I dont know why but it’s been happening for 60+ years. I marvel at a team like SF who is on their third QB and laid an absolute beat down on Tom Brady and Tampa. When was the last time the Vikings went out and just dominated someone from start to finish? 

I'm not sure what that has to do with this year being better than last.

7 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'd throw deep every play against this defense. Every. Play.

10+ yard passes takes time to develop. That stat really emphasizes @Danchat’s point that we really need to fix the pass rush. We know that our secondary is not that good to mask a poor pass rush. But a good pass rush can mask our shaky secondary. 

6 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'm not sure what that has to do with this year being better than last.

Because it doesn’t portend future success. For a team without a championship appearance in over 40 years, it’s not something to get excited about. The window is not wide swinging open, if it’s open at all.

it’s just another winning season for one of the winningest franchises in the sport. But ultimately, another that will end without a title. I can’t think of another team that has wasted more generational talent than the Vikings.

Just now, Aggies7 said:

Because it doesn’t portend future success. For a team without a championship appearance in over 40 years, it’s not something to get excited about. The window is not wide swinging open, if it’s open at all.

it’s just another winning season for one of the winningest franchises in the sport. But ultimately, another that will end without a title.

Which has nothing to do with this year being more fun than last year. I didn't talk about the future at all. This year is more fun than last. That's it. That's the post. Journey.....

1 minute ago, Mike Sixel said:

Which has nothing to do with this year being more fun than last year. I didn't talk about the future at all. This year is more fun than last. That's it. That's the post. Journey.....

Been a lot of fun seasons, they just all end the same way. Pretty well tired of it at this point.

13 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

Best teams in the NFC according to me:

eagles

49ers

cowboys

vikings

Commanders

seahawks

bucs

lions

giants

 

I would favor the Vikings to win a playoff game against seattle, Tampa and the giants. Slight favorites over Washington and the lions because of the home field in round one.

Finish as the third seed and it’ll be a divisional round exit. Highly doubt we could go into Philly or SF and win a road playoff game

Sounds about right, defense is a big issue, having a kicker would help too. I’m not a Super Bowl or bust fan, they may have been expected to go far but it’s not hard to see they won’t with this defense. 

I’m not going to be that disappointed about an unqualified team not making it to the Super Bowl 

The Vikings poor defense and eeking wins out by the skin of their teeth is really frustrating.

What's more frustrating: Every national pundit saying the Vikings aren't actually very good and acting like it's a hot take they alone have realized and need to spread because everyone else thinks otherwise.

1 hour ago, Aggies7 said:

They won’t get to the NFCCG if they finish with the 3 seed, which is looking increasingly likely with a couple divisional road games left and game on Saturday with a team coming off a bye. You simply can’t hide a terrible defense in the NFL, and the Vikings have now moved into dead last in yards allowed and 2nd to last in yards/play.

Why you would hire an ultra young offensive minded coach in his first head coaching job and then hire a guy who’s been a DC for over 20 years is a head scratcher.

Hiring a guy who has been a DC for over 20 years isnt the problem.  That guy thinking the game hasnt changed in 20 years is.

36 minutes ago, LVTwinsfan said:

I’m not going to be that disappointed about an unqualified team not making it to the Super Bowl 

You don’t have to be disappointed, but I’m also not going to take any solace that we had a better year than last year, record wise. And in fact, the defense has actually gotten worse since last season. They were ranked 24 last year and are now dead last yardage wise. Last year’s team is actually very similar to 2022 IMO. The biggest difference has been the performance in close games which I believe is a direct result of having a head coach that the players neither feared nor hated. Having confidence that your coach has your back and won’t degrade you if you fail goes a long way. And yeah, the wild, ridiculous wins have been fun, but in January it’s going to end like so many other years have ended: bounced out by a better team

22 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Hiring a guy who has been a DC for over 20 years isnt the problem.  That guy thinking the game hasnt changed in 20 years is.

That’s what I mean. If you’re going to go young and innovative, go young and innovative

51 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

That’s what I mean. If you’re going to go young and innovative, go young and innovative

I'm guessing they wanted that experience to offset the youth. Not that unusual.