Vikings lay a massive egg in the biggest regular season game in franchise history with plenty of blame to pass around
The Minnesota Vikings had everything in their hands. They were riding a nine-game winning streak going into Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions, but they couldn't get it done. The Vikings lost to the Detroit Lions by a score of 31-9 in the biggest game of the year. The loss means the Vikings will be […]
The Minnesota Vikings had everything in their hands. They were riding a nine-game winning streak going into Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions, but they couldn't get it done. The Vikings lost to the Detroit Lions by a score of 31-9 in the biggest game of the year.
The loss means the Vikings will be the fifth seed and will face the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night, January 13th.
There are a lot of different people who arguably deserve blame for how the Vikings played on Sunday, with some of it going to the Lions. The studs and duds for the final regular season game are live and frustrating.
Stud: Lions DC Aaron Glenn
There is nothing else to say other than bravo when talking about the Lions' defense. Aaron Glenn deserves a ton of flowers for how well his defense played on Sunday night, especially in the red zone.
They stopped the Vikings inside the 10-yard line on two fourth downs and were very impressive once the Vikings got to the red zone. With all the injuries that they have suffered, including cornerback Terrion Arnold early in the third quarter.
Dud: QB Sam Darnold
The performance from Darnold wasn't exactly bad, but it also wasn't good. Let me explain.
Darnold wasn't making bad decisions. In fact, he was doing a great job in identifying receivers to throw the ball to regularly. The problem was that Darnold was slightly off consistently throughout the majority of the game. A few inches here and there could have been the difference in the Vikings getting 14+ points in the red zone to Justin Jefferson.
Darnold had defenders in his face constantly all game long, as the Lions were finding ways to get pressure with blitzes and stunts. He dealt with the pressure well early on, but those pressures got to him and it caused some slight inaccuracies, which were a major factor in the game. A few inches in the right direction could have given the Vikings 14+ points, which could have swung the game. Those went the Vikings way all season long, but not Sunday night.
Dud: Vikings kickoff strategy
All season long, the Vikings have chosen to kick the ball through the end zone, resulting in the ball going to the 30-yard line. Back in October, O'Connell talked about their process with the kickoff.
"I don't know if it's a credit to– we have not trailed very often this year. A lot of times you're thinking, hey, the defense, they've played really well. Last thing you want to do is give up some yardage without those guys on the field. We happen to have a guy that can put it in the end zone when we want to. Will's [Reichard] doing a great job with that. I don't know if it's a product of that necessarily, or just kind of our approach to this new play early on in the season. I'm sure there's going to be some times either by design, or I can think back to us covering– I think we miss hit one against the Niners and [Kayvon] Thibodeaux brought it out and we had great coverage. Whatever the intent is, great, but there's some unknowns that can take place on that play from the type of kick you hit to a team's willingness to bring it out maybe from five, six, seven yards deep. The coverage has to be airtight every time and we've seen some good execution out of our guys there when we have had returns against us. It'll be a kind of a moving target changing thing throughout the year, I think."
So, what changed on Sunday? They decided in the first half to have the ball land in the landing zone (between the goal line and 20) but the second one went out of bounds, giving the Lions the ball on the 40 with around 20 seconds left. Not a winning strategy for the Vikings and it helped the Lions get a quick field goal.
Dud: Kevin O'Connell's adjustments
The Vikings have lived and died by the big play. Darnold has completed more passes 20+ yards through the air than anyone in the National Football League, but it didn't work on Sunday.
The Vikings didn't complete a single pass that traveled 20+ yards down the field and the offensive line couldn't hold up against the Lions' blitz-heavy strategy. One thing that we didn't see enough of on Sunday night was adjustments to how the Lions were trying to pressure Darnold. Where were the blitz beaters? No crossing routes? Slants? They did some screens to counteract the blitz, but even so, it was frustrating.
O'Connell is a tremendous coach and playcaller, but this is a major weakness of his that needs some real reflection this offseason.
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It makes all the sense in the world
