Week 15 Thoughts

The Detroit Lions defeated the Minnesota Vikings 16-14.

The Vikings really should have won this game.

For about 3/4 of the first half, we saw the quarterback for whom the Vikings have been looking for most of the past forty years. Teddy Bridgewater was fantastic. It looked like he could do anything that he wanted against an excellent Lions defense.

With about five minutes to play in the first half, the Vikings were leading 14-0. They were cruising and the Lions were reeling. Then it flipped. Lions safety Glover Quin intercepted Bridgewater and returned it to the Vikings 11-yard line. A Lions touchdown soon followed. 14-7. Bridgewater's next pass was intercepted by Darius Slay. A Lions field goal soon followed. The Vikings had dominated the first half and only led 14-10.

The only scoring of the second half were a couple of Lions field goals. That was enough to win the game.

The Lions damn near gained nearly as many yards on their first possession of the second half as they gained the entire first half.

While the Vikings didn't put up a single second half point it was the end of the game that hurt the most.

It was a horrible way for the Vikings to end a game. They attempted what would have been a game-winning field goal as time expired. It was from 68 yards. It really shouldn't have been such a desperation kick. They had a delay of game penalty before that. How do you have a delay of game at that point in the game? Time is so, so important. I guess that it's an indication of a young team. Running back Matt Asiata also had a puzzle of a play. After catching a short pass he had the option of fighting for a first down or getting out of bounds. The latter was probably the preferred option as the clock was perhaps a greater opponent than the Lions at that point. The former would have been a positive play. Just not as positive. He did neither. He hit the turf. Maybe he slipped. Who knows? He didn't get the first down and the clock continued to run.

The possession before that was just as frustrating. The kickoff following the Lions go-ahead field goal was returned to midfield by Cordarrelle Patterson. It might have been Patterson's biggest play since week 1. The Vikings only needed to gain about 15 yards for a reasonable field goal attempt. The Vikings turned the ball over on downs without moving much further than midfield. Patterson hadn't played an offensive snap but was targeted on three of the four attempts. Two were completed for 16 yards. They needed twenty due to a phantom holding call on Vladimir Ducasse.

Vikings kicker Blair Walsh missed three field goals. The first was from 53 yards at the end of their first possession. The second was from 26 yards. It was blocked. Then there was the 68-yard attempt that ended the game. Make any one of those and the Vikings might have a win. The attempt that was blocked was the one that should have been made. Walsh missed two attempts last week. He's been so automatic in his three seasons that even a single miss is a shock.

The Vikings drive that ended in the blocked field goal had to end in points. The conversions that kept that dive alive were heroic. Seriously heroic. The Lions had just cut the Vikings lead to a single point, 14-13. On 3rd and 3 from the Lions 41-yard line, Bridgewater threw a short pass to Rhett Ellison. That was the easy part. Ellison bobbled the ball, regained possession, broke some tackles, and carried Lions for ten yards. That nice conversion appeared for not when Ndamuknog Suh sacked Bridgewater for an 8-yard loss. Matt Kalil's holding penalty pushed the ball back even further to the Lions 49-yard line. And just like that, the Vikings had 2nd & 28 from midfield. Bridgewater hit receiver Jarius Wright for 15 yards. On 3rd and 13, Bridgewater ran for 16 yards. After all that, they had to come away with points. They didn't. It was an 18 play drive.

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is very effective when he has to improvise. Just looking at him, I wouldn't have guessed that he had it him.

The Vikings defense calls for corner Xavier Rhodes to play on the right side regardless of the receiver. That changed yesterday. Rhodes followed Lions all-everything receiver Calvin Johnson all over the field. Rhodes was solid. Johnson had 4 catches for 53 yards. Pretty meager stats for Johnson.

No one on the Lions offense really did much. 233 yards of offense. Stafford threw 153 yards on 28 attempts. The Lions lone touchdown came on an 11-yard drive.

The Lions offense didn't get their first first down until their fifth possession.

The Vikings defense was missing defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, linebacker Anthony Barr, and safety Robert Blanton. They held up well without those starters but not well enough. The offense didn't do them any favors on a couple of occasions. Still, they gave up a touchdown and three too many field goals.

There were two Tate IIIs on the field. The Vikings had Ben Tate III. The Lions had Golden Tate III.

The Lions Tate III claims that the first defender never gets him on the ground. That's pure fantasy. He was routinely taken to the ground by the Vikings first defender.

In the last Lions game, Bridgewater was sacked eight times. He looked like a rookie making his second start that day. It wasn't pretty.

The Lions sacked Bridgewater four times yesterday.  It's more than you'd like to see but far better than that previous game.

Bridgewater was the most productive offensive player on the field. If only he could get those two passes back. He was 31 of 41 for 315 yards and a touchdown.

Bridgewater has thrown ten interceptions on the year. Half have come against the Lions.

The Vikings are now 6-8. They are also 0-5 in the division. That hurts.

Simple math shows that the Vikings are 6-3 against the rest of their schedule. That's no consolation if you can't win your division games. You have to win your division games.

The Lions are sitting pretty at 10-4. Tied with Green Bay Packers on top of the NFC North.

These are the types of game that the Vikings have to learn how to win. All six of their wins have come against teams with losing records. They had wins in their grasp against the Buffalo Bills and now the Lions. So close to 8-6 but so far away from winning winnable games.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel started his first NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Lets's see how he did.

First half possessions:
3 & out
3 & out
Interception
3 & out
Interception

Second half possessions
3 & out
3 & out
6 & out
3 & out
1 & end of game

At least Manziel got the Browns into scoring position before he threw his second interception. It was actually the second interception that he threw on that possession. The first was negated by a Bengals penalty. A very avoidable penalty.

The Bengals defensive players were quick to mock Manziel's little cash celebration. It was actually kinda pathetic.

Manziel's first start was clearly a big deal. The Browns-Bengals game, a matchup that has never received national attention, was televised across the nation.

Welcome to the NFL Johnny Manziel.

Some of my favorite Cal players of the past decade include Aaron Rodgers, Marshawn Lynch, Justin Forsett, Marvin Jones, Keenan Allen, Richard Rodgers, Alex Mack, Brandon Mebane, Mychal Kendricks, Thomas DeCoud, Syd'Quan Thompson, and Mike Mohamed. After watching them for 3-4 years in Berkeley I was sure that all of them had nice NFL careers ahead of them. The NFL future of Mohamed was the one that I questioned. He was a terrific college linebacker. I just wasn't sure if he had the size and speed to continue in the NFL. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the 6th round of the 2014 NFL Draft. It was awesome to see him play, and play well, against the Indianapolis Colts yesterday.

Aaron Rodgers stat line: 17/42, 40.5%, 185 yards, 0 TDs, 2 interceptions.

No touchdowns!

Packers running back Eddie Lacy ran for 97 yards. It's simply amazing that they couldn't get a passing game working against the Bills with that kind of production from Lacy.

Incredible performance by the Buffalo Bills defense.

Rodgers had some surprising drops by his receivers. 6 total. 2 by the sure-handed Jordy Nelson. One of those drops by Nelson could've/should've been a very long touchdown.

It looked like Mike McCarthy had a few seizures on the Packers sideline. I don't think that I've ever seen him move like that.

The Carolina Panthers are 5-8-1. They are currently sitting in first in the NFC South. The New Orleans Saints play the Chicago Bears tonight. The Saints, at 5-8, can leap the Panthers with a win. At best, the NFC South leader will be 6-8. Incredible.

Congratulations to the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, and Indianapolis Colts on winning their divisions. All have winning record. That's good to see. Three teams from the AFC North could fill out the rest of the conference's playoff spots. The Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Baltimore Ravens all control their playoff chances,

Not much is set in the NFC playoff picture.

The Vikings travel to Bridgewater's hometown of Miami to take on the Dolphins next week.

RIP Fuzzy Thurston.