If the teams taking the field against the Indianapolis Colts in the coming weeks play anything like the New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings recently did against them, well, Roger Goodell should just hand the Lombardi Trophy to Jim Irsay now. I didn't think that an NFL team could be any more lifeless than the Jets were against the Colts a couple Monday nights ago. The Vikings approached that level of lifelessness yesterday. 34-6 final. Terrible game. Unless you're with the Colts and teams continue to fold like the Jets and Vikings have recently.
It's impossible to know what went wrong in Minnesota. Something certainly did. Since a promising 5-0 start to the season the Vikings have had some poor performances but this one was something else. With running back Adrian Peterson returning to the field there was a lot of excitement in and around the team. Did all that excitement drain the team before the game even started? Who knows? Something sure wasn't right. The first half was one of the worst halves of Vikings football that I've ever seen.
Some first half numbers:
Offensive plays:
Colts: 46
Vikings: 13
13! A single decent drive often totals 13 plays. The Colts had one of those in the first half. They also had a couple 11-play drives as well. The Vikings five first half possessions went 3, 4, 3, 2, and 1 play. That 2-play fourth possession was the most promising. A nice 40-yard Cordarrelle Patterson kick return and a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty got the Vikings started at midfield. A 28-yard Sam Bradford pass to Kyle Rudolph pass got them to the Colts 22-yard line. Peterson burst up the middle for 13 yards. And fumbled. A touchdown there and it might have been a different game. 17-7 with some momentum. Who knows? Doesn't matter.
More first half numbers:
Time of possession
Colts: 23:32
Vikings: 6:28
Total yards:
Colts: 281
Vikings: 69
A sad, sad performance. The second half wasn't much better.
The biggest play of the first half might have been the dumbest. On the Colts second possession the Vikings defense finally made a stand at their own three-yard line. It looked like they were going to escape with only giving up a field goal after keeping the Colts out of the end zone on three attempts from the three. It was a nice, much needed stop. Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri made the short field goal but for some reason Vikings nose tackle Linval Joseph decided to hurdle the Colts center in an effort to block the kick. Joseph is remarkably agile for a football player that weighs well north of 300 lbs. A man that size attempting to hurdle another football player isn't wise. Joseph was called for a personal foul because he didn't quite clear the center and the Colts had a first down on the one-yard line. Two plays later the Colts had their first touchdown and a 10-0 lead. The Vikings essentially gift-wrapped and handed the Colts four points. 'Tis the season. It wasn't going great before that and it was downhill from there.
The best example of the day that it was for the Vikings was the Colts third touchdown of the first half. With 33 seconds remaining in the half and nursing a 17-0 lead, the Colts had a second-and-goal from the six. Robert Turbin broke as many as six tackles as he made his way to the end zone. It looked as if all 11 Vikings defenders had at least one shot at him. None were able to do what they usually do so well.
The defense has kept the Vikings in all of their six losses entering this game. The defense has rarely been the problem. They were a problem yesterday. Poor tackling, late to react, or not reacting at all. They allowed pass catchers to routinely get open across the middle. The offense's inability to sustain anything probably led to some of the problems on defense. As soon as the Vikings defense staggered off of the field they were staggering back onto it. The Colts offense held the ball for 3/4 of the first half. That's ridiculous. The defense also really missed safety Harrison Smith. A sprained ankle kept him out for a second consecutive game. The Vikings defense was able to handle Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles last week but Andrew Luck is a whole other quarterback. He took advantage of Smith's absence. The Colts final touchdown was a perfect example of that. Some combination of safeties Andrew Sendejo and Anthony Harris had coverage on Colts receiver Phillip Dorsett. Neither really covered him as Dorsett just ran past both and Luck torched them for an easy 50-yard touchdown. That doesn't happen with Smith back there. Although it was eerily similar to the long pass that Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant caught against Smith a few weeks ago. I still think that Smith would react much quicker than Harris did yesterday. Credit the Colts and Luck for taking advantage.
Some might argue that the Vikings would have been better off not playing Peterson against the Colts. It didn't sound like the team was sure that Peterson was going to be available until late in the week. After the game plan was installed. The offense did look out of sorts but I don't think that Peterson's presence changed things all that much. Maybe they tweak some of the run plays. The Colts got on top of the Vikings so quickly that Peterson's role diminished early. The offense just didn't execute. They had to convert first downs. They only ran 13 offensive plays in the first half. That barely scratches the surface of the game plan. The key to football is converting first downs, moving the chains, maintaining possession. That benefits the defense as much as it does the offense and scoreboard. The Vikings lost this game because the entire team failed to do what they're supposed to do.
This was a terrible performance. One of the worst that I've ever seen from the Vikings. They knew that they had no room for a loss if they had any hope for the playoffs. It's the sort of games that fans will never understand. How does an NFL team come out and play so ineffectively? So flat. How does that happen to every player on the team? The postseason was in their hands. Now, it isn't. The players and coaches don't understand it either. Technically, the Vikings are still in the postseason mix but this is the sort of game that should ban them simply on principle.
That's about all the Week 15 thoughts that I can muster.
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