The Minnesota Vikings gave the Detroit Lions their first win of the season. It was another final play of the game affair. It wouldn’t be a 2021 Vikings game if it didn’t come down to the final play. The Lions get a Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown 11-yard touchdown toss as the clock hit zeroes. 29-27. There was no need for the extra point.
How could the Vikings hand the Lions their first win? Well, I suppose a couple reasons were too many field goals instead of touchdowns and chasing points with extra point decisions. The Vikings were often on the Lions side of the field. When they did manage to some points on the board they settled for field goals on three occasions. Their first three scores were field goals. If the Vikings had truly taken full advantage of early scoring opportunities, they’d have added another 4-12 points. Instead they left those points on the field. Their next three scores were touchdowns. Finally. On each occasion, Mike Zimmer chose to go for two. On each occasion, they failed to get in the end zone. The decisions had a cumulative effect. Each miss probably necessitated the need for the next attempt. Taken in full, the Vikings took three points off the board. It was three points that they really needed at the end of the game. It would’ve given them 30 points. That would’ve forced Lions head coach Dan Campbell to make a decision after the Goff-St. Brown touchdown. Kick to tie vs. two points to win. He had a similar decision in the earlier Vikings-Lions game and went for two. It’s a safe bet that Campbell would pick the two points. The game would’ve been decided on that two-point play. A better strategy would’ve been not to allow St. Brown free parking in the end zone.
Justin Jefferson was the best player on the field. The Lions had no player(s) that could cover him. They had no scheme that could contain him. They had no answer for him.
11 catches
180 yards
Jefferson had so much success that 11 catches felt about 11 catches too few.
The Vikings lost Adam Thielen on the sixth play of the game. Even without having to worry about Thielen, the Lions couldn’t handle Jefferson.
Dan Campbell is an idiot. His decisions to twice go for it on fourth down on his side of the field should’ve been the main reason that his team remained winless. The Vikings bailed him out by turning those idiotic decisions into only nine points. It should’ve been 14.
This is a simply brutal loss. The Vikings fall to 5-7. They can still hit 10-7. That feels like a record that gets a team to the playoffs. 10-7 is a distant dream if they play like they did yesterday.
These one-score, final-minute games are going to put me in intensive care.
This loss to the Lions is so ugly, so frustrating that hashing it about in my head or here feels pointless.
Instead of hashing about the game, I wanted to mention a couple curious pre-game decisions. Despite being a must-win game, it seemed that the Vikings made some lineup decisions that might indicate that they were looking past the Lions and toward a short week against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
1. The defense was already a bit depleted due to injuries. They then chose to make Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks inactive. The two linebackers are the heart of the defense. The Vikings have often had to play without one of the two. They’ve rarely had to play without both. It hasn’t been pretty when missing both. The New Orleans Saints Christmas Day game comes to mind. Both missed practice time last week to injuries. Both practiced a bit despite those injuries. It’s purely a guess that one or both could’ve played. I can’t help but think that both were given the game off to be “more” healthy for the Steelers on Thursday night. Despite missing about half of the starters, the Vikings defense was scrappy against the Lions. Unfortunately, they weren’t scrappy enough. They also weren’t good enough. I don’t know what Cameron Dantzler was doing on the game’s final play. It’s a safe bet that Zimmer’s defensive call wasn’t to give St. Brown free entry into the end zone.
2. Rookie left tackle Christian Darrisaw was ruled out of the game due to an ankle injury suffered against the San Francisco 49ers. The assumed move was that Rashod Hill would simply step in for Darrisaw. Instead, it turned into a series of moves. Right guard Oli Udoh moved to left tackle. Garrett Bradbury returned to his starting center role. Mason Cole, starting center for the past four games, moved to right guard. My guess is that the coaches wanted to get Bradbury back into the lineup while still keeping Cole on the field. I get that part of it and I like it. I was more than a little surprised that Udoh started at left tackle over Hill. Udoh came into the league as a tackle. He’d played tackle for the Vikings until his move to guard this season. So, he wasn’t asked to handle an unfamiliar position. He was asked to play a position that he hadn’t played in a must-win game in the NFL. He jumped offsides three times against the Lions. I suppose that’s a little better than the holding penalties that he often had at right guard. I really like the potential of an interior group of Ezra Cleveland-Garrett Bradbury-Mason Cole. I’m just not sure about the move of Udoh to left tackle. It seems like a bit too much experimentation for a Week 13 game. Even if that Week 13 game is against the winless Lions.
I’m so sick of shitty officiating. The missed grab of Kirk Cousins’ facemask resulted in a turnover. Several official eyes are on a quarterback in the pocket. There’s a specific penalty for contacting a quarterbacks head. There’s an even more specific penalty for grabbing and yanking a player’s facemask. Cousins clearly had his facemask grabbed. His head was clearly yanked in a direction he hadn’t intended it to go. With all the official eyes on the quarterback, this is a penalty that should never be missed. This penalty gave the Lions the ball and changed the game. It was a turnover that was quickly turned into a seven-point gift for the Lions. The missed penalty and resulting touchdown gave the Lions momentum and belief that this game could be different than the previous 11.
It’s on to the Steelers on a short week. The Vikings have to stop giving away games. They’re too talented to play so bad.
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