Vikings-Packers

Well, that was disappointing. The Green Bay Packers held on for a 21-16 win over the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field. It was very disappointing.

Football is a team sport but it's fairly difficult to not put a lot of this loss on Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. He wasn't very accurate. He completed only 14 of his 32 attempts. That's 43.75%. That sort of percentage is barely conceivable in today's NFL. He completed over 70% of his passes last year. He wasn't accurate. He made some poor decisions. He had three turnovers (1 fumble, and 2 interceptions). The worst of which was an interception in the end zone on a first-and-goal from the 8-yard line with just over five minutes to play. The Packers were on their heels. Their defense was starting to not want anything more to do with the Vikings running backs. The defenders were shying away from contract and the backs were picking up chunks of yardage. That mind-numbing interception basically sealed the game for the Packers. The game was right there for the Vikings and it slipped away.

But football is a team sport.

The Vikings defense didn't show up in the first quarter. It took four plays for the Packers to score on the opening possession. 39-yard pass, 6-yard run, 15-yard run, 15-yard touchdown pass. It was bang-bang-bang-bang-touchdown. There wasn't a hint of resistance. The Vikings offense responded with a missed field goal. The Packers offense then took 11 plays to go 63 yards for their second touchdown. The Vikings offense responded with a fumble. The Packers only had to move the ball 33 yards for their third touchdown. 44 seconds into the second quarter and the Packers led 21-0. Then the Vikings started to play some defense.

Packers offense:
First three possessions: 171 yards, 21 points
Next 11 possessions: 154 yards, 8 punts, 2 fumbles, 1 turn over on downs, 0 points.

Perhaps Cousins was pressing because of the near-immediate 21-0 hole. Who really knows? He's a very accurate quarterback. The beautiful 45-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs in the third quarter is more than norm for Cousins. I've seen him make the occasional mind-numbing mistake. I've never seen him miss passes so frequently. I'm not worried about Cousins moving forward. He just has to shake this game off and start throwing the football to his teammates. And putting an end to the mind-numbing mistakes would be nice.

The officiating. There were four offensive pass interference penalties called in this game. Three on the Vikings. One on the Packers. That't the expected disparity in this rivalry. I've probably watched entire seasons of NFL games and not seen four offensive pass interference penalties. One of those penalties took a Vikings touchdown off the board. The officials on the field didn't call it. It took replay to find something to take away that touchdown. Head of Officials Alberto Riveron, sitting in New York, decided that Dalvin Cook impeded a defender while the ball was on the way to Diggs in the end zone. The contact looked inadvertent. Fox rules analyst, and former Head of Officials, Dean Blandino stated that he wouldn't have called it. The new rules allowing replay to call or overturn pass interference penalties demands that the penalty, or absence of a penalty, be unquestionable in order to change the call on the field. If the current and former Head of Officials having differing opinions on a penalty I'd say that makes it questionable. Making pass interference penalties reviewable was supposed to fix things. It hasn't.

Despite the poor start, the poor game by Cousins, and shaky officiating in Green Bay and New York, it felt like the Vikings could've/should've won this game. There were two reasons for that. The defense finally got things together. And Dalvin Cook.

Dalvin Cook was the best player on the field.

20 carries, 154 yards, 7.7 avg, 1 touchdown
3 receptions, 37 yards

His touchdown was a 75-yard burst. The longest of his career. It feels like he'll be threatening that standard every game.

If Cook had carried the ball once, maybe twice, when the Vikings had that first-and-goal from the 8, perhaps we're talking about a 23-21 win. Who knows? I don't. I do know that Cook has been fantastic through the first two games of the season. Rookie Alexander Mattison (4 carries, 25 yards, 6.3 avg.) has done a fine job while giving Cook breathers. The Vikings need that because they really need Cook to stay on the field as much as possible. Cook looks like a special sort of back.

This was a very disappointing game. Losses always are. This one more so than most. It was the Packers. It was the slow start by the defense. It was Cousins' mistakes. Despite all the issues, the game was still right there for the taking. That's probably what's most disappointing of all. But maybe that's a promising thing. The Vikings overcame a lot of mistakes to be in a position to still win this game. I doubt that a defensive start like this will happen again. And I doubt that Cousins will be so inaccurate again. Now, it's time for the Oakland Raiders.