Vikings-Cowboys

This Minnesota Vikings team is going to kill me. 

The Vikings treated the Dallas Cowboys to a win on Halloween night. It really wasn’t so much the Cowboys winning the game as it was the Vikings losing it. The opportunities bounced off the Vikings like that game-sealing interception bounced off Bashaud Breeland’s chest. 

The days leading up to the game were filled with speculation as to whether Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott would play in the game. He tested his balky calf through a ravenously viewed pregame workout. Ultimately, it was decided that he wouldn’t play against the Vikings. It was Cooper Rush’s night. 

Cooper Rush! Are you kidding me?

History will show that Rush was the little-used quarterback that stretched the Cowboys win streak to six games and allowed Prescott an extra week to get right. Reality shows that he was three missed interceptions from a five-turnover night. If Breeland and/or Cameron Dantzler had collected the interceptions that were intended for them, this game has an entirely different outcome. 

The Vikings offense converted the two turnovers that the defense did get into two three-and-outs. At least those turnovers ended two Cowboys drives. The three turnovers that they didn’t would’ve/could’ve/should’ve done the same. Ending that game-winning drive at midfield would’ve been nice. 

The Vikings offense piled up 571 yards in their Week 6 win over the Carolina Panthers. It felt and looked like the offense was really starting to click as they entered their Week 7 bye. Week 8 was several running steps in the wrong direction. The Vikings offense managed only 278 yards against the Cowboys. A big reason for that was way too many long-yardage situations. A big reason for the long-yardage situations was a strange commitment to screen passes. These quick outside passes have been a staple of Klint Kubiak’s offense. They’ve had some success with the play this season. They had no success with the play last night. The timing was off. Unlike many screens that have a screen of blockers in front of the receiver these screens are dependent on the receiver making the first defender miss. The pass has to be quick. The pass has to be accurate. The pass has to put the receiver in a position to make a defender miss. Last night, Kirk Cousin’s passes did none of that. The receivers repeatedly had to adjust to the throw. They weren’t in a position to make a defender miss. The play wasn’t working. The first defender was routinely there for easy, unassisted tackles in the backfield. The productive screen plays were few and the gains were minimal. More often, these plays put the Vikings behind the chains. Honestly, the offense would’ve been better off if the receivers simply slapped the ball to the ground rather than catching it. 

If only a whole game can be as pretty as the Vikings first drive. Once again, the offense opened the game with a cruise down the field. 7-0. Beautiful. It ended up being their only touchdown of the night. It shouldn’t have been that way. They nearly repeated that beautiful offense on their second possession. From the Cowboys 49-yard line, Justin Jefferson juked his defended to the turf and was running free down the sideline. 99 times out of 100, it’s an easy pitch-and-catch for Cousins and Jefferson for an early 14-0 lead. Perhaps Jefferson misjudged the ball. Perhaps he lost the ball. For whatever reason, he slowed and had to dive for a pass just beyond his fingers. He runs through the route and it’s a touchdown and this is a very different game. 

There were some rough moments but the Vikings defense played well enough to win. The Cowboys came into the game as the best running team in the league. The Vikings defense shut that down. 24 carries for 78 yards. 3.3 yards/carry. Ezekiel Elliott had 50 yards on 16 carries, 3.1 yards/carry. Tony Pollard had 26 yards on 7 carries, 3.7 yards/carry. The Vikings defense put it on Cooper Rush to win the game. The coverage gave the Cowboys receivers room. The defense dared Rush to hit open receivers. He hit those receivers often enough. He also made the mistakes that the Vikings expected him to make. The problem was that Rush got away with most of those mistakes. Breeland had opportunities for two interceptions. The first hit his hands. The second bounced off his chest. Dantzler had a pass thrown right to him. He trapped it rather than caught it. Most of Rush’s negative plays went unpunished. His positive plays felt like flukes. Perhaps it’s just that last fluke that that made things feel so fluky. That’s the fluke that bounced off Breeland’s chest and into the arms of Amari Cooper. 33 yards and the Cowboys had the ball on the Vikings 42 with just over two minutes to play. It was a different game after that little treat.

The schedule-makers did the Vikings no treats with their post-bye schedule. 

Dallas

@Baltimore

@Los Angeles Chargers

Green Bay

@San Francisco

The Vikings pre-bye play put them at a mediocre 3-3. They need wins. This was a winnable game and they let it slip from their grasp. They can’t afford to let any more wins slip away. They are better than this. The offense has too many good, fun players to not play good, fun offense. They need those good, fun players to play good, fun offense from first drive to last drive. The defense is improving. They need Danielle Hunter to not miss any more time than the second half that he missed last night. They need Michael Pierce back. They need Patrick Peterson to get healthy. The Vikings just have to play like they have the ability to play. Is that too much to ask?