The low point of the Mike Zimmer era

Bills 27
Vikings 6

Last week a Bills player realized he didn't have it anymore, and retired at halftime. In tribute, the entire Vikings 53 man roster, as well as the coaching staff, apparently decided to retire BEFORE the game.

Where to start on this? This was easily one of the worst Vikings games I have even seen in person. I entered the purple palace today wary yet very confident the Vikes would handle the Bills, and that Zimmer would demolish rookie Josh Allen. Sure we had a few guys out, but c'mon we are FAR better than the Bills. I still think we're better than the Bills.

But this was a total disaster, from damn near the opening kickoff. When Linval got that BS roughing flag it was like the game went into some alternate dimension. This defense that, while not stifling, was very solid in containing Jimmy G and holding the Packers to a bunch of 3s and making last week's comeback possible, completely imploded. The offense that seemed to really find itself at Lambeau, had like 26 yards of 1st half offense.

The term "game film" still exists even though there is no actual FILM anymore. If there were actual film of this it might as well just be burned.

I'm still stunned. I left early in the 4th quarter, so I missed most of the garbage yards and the 1 touchdown. I couldn't take this shit anymore today. Losing is one thing, especially in the wacky NFL of 2018 where the Jaguars can lose to Blaine Gabbert or Washington can handle Green Bay(the score updates providing what little joy was had at the stadium today). Losing is unfortunate, but understandable.

But I do not understand this one. Trap game shmap game. This team looked unprepared, unmotivated, just lazy. It is the lowest moment of the Zimmer era, because there are no outs to this. 38-7 could at least be understood. That Colts game in 2016, the 2015 opener in San Francisco, that Seattle game in 2015 that preceded the playoff game, etc. They've been blown out. They've lost a few games to teams they shouldn't lose to. All teams have this. But today was impossible to reconcile. This Vikings team is not 27-6 worse than Buffalo. When teams lose like this to teams they are better than it sets off alarms.

I'm alarmed. I don't want Mike Zimmer fired like the Reddit lunatics. I want to understand how Zimmer could allow Josh Allen to skull-fuck his proud defense like this. I want to understand why this offensive line gave 2016 flashbacks against a mediocre defense. I want to understand why this defense looked so slow on our home field. I want to understand why no attempts ever seemed to be made to work around the o-line(is D-Flip Norv Turner 2.0?). I want to understand the dropped passes. I want to understand why Stefon Diggs can be pile-driven while out of bounds and there is no flag.

Nothing I saw today made any god damn sense.

The best thing in the world right now for the Vikings, and fans like me, is that they play again in 4 days. There's no time to wallow in the misery that was this game today. And we will learn a LOT about what this team is made of in Los Angeles. They've lost one of the easiest games on their schedule. So now they're going to HAVE to go win at least 1 game that they aren't expected to win. If they go lose the next 2 in convincing fashion, it may be time to give up on this team being THE team. If they grab one of those wins, this debacle today can be largely forgotten.

Everything about today sucked. Teams have had clunkers like this and still went on to great things. It helps that the NFC looks like it may not be quite the gauntlet it was expected to be. But the Vikings blew it today. They don't get to shrug off any more opponents. Because if Josh Allen and the lowly Bills can embarrass you on your home field, nothing can be taken for granted.