Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Hatriots 24
Vikings 10

I always believe that when teams are playing as big underdogs, particularly on the road, they need to play aggressively. You have to play like you have nothing to lose, even if you have lots to lose. If you don't, the odds are pretty damn good you will lose.

I sure wish John Defilippo felt this way.

The Vikings 5th ever matchup against Tom Brady was the 1st one that was within reach. This was a tie game until very late in the 3rd quarter. The tie was blown by the defense. The GAME was blown by our offensive coordinator, who should not be allowed to serve another game in that capacity.

You have to go into a game like this, against this team in their home stadium where they are damn near invincible(they have more Super Bowl titles than home December losses in the Brady era), and assume that you have to score at LEAST in the upper 20s to have any reasonable chance to win.

But our offense came out and for almost the entire 1st half played like the gameplan was designed NOT to score. No creativity on offense at all. Nothing downfield at all. No slants. Nothing. Luckily Dalvin Cook looked explosive and got us a couple nice gains. We only got in scoring position once, although at this point is it really scoring position for us when a field goal is involved?

Bill Belichick gets hailed as a genius, but does it really take superior intellect to flood the pass rush against a horrible OL when our OC keeps proving week after week he does not grasp just how pitiful that unit is?

Only when right before the half, with time sparse, did the Vikings offense play like it should. Quick, explosive passes. Right down the field for a touchdown. Game on.

Or not. Defilippo ignored this success for the rest of the game, even garbage time, and went back to the slow developing shit, the short stuff, the total abandonment of the running game when Dalvin looked his best all year. There was even that awful 4th and 1 call that a ridiculous spot bailed him out on.

This is Norv Turner 2016 shit, but arguably worse. This is 12 games in now and Defilippo does not learn, he does not change, he just clearly thinks he is the smartest guy in the room. He is the single factor holding this team back the most. His hiring was a huge mistake.

The team deserves better. They did today. The defense was put in a horrible spot, with a hobbled Rhodes and then a concussed Waynes. You don't want Marcus Sherels getting this much run. Yes, when they looked bad they looked REALLY bad(the 1st drive and the drive that put the Pats ahead for good), but you will take 24 points allowed in this situation 100% of the time.

The Kirk Cousins Hate Squad is reveling again. Never mind that he put a deep ball on Thielen's hands that he dropped(woulda been a great catch, but it has to be caught), that he put a TD on Robinson's hands that was improbably turned into a game sealing pick, that he put TWO balls back to back into the endzone that would have been scores without blatant uncalled PI.

Yeah the refs fucked us on those 2 calls, then almost immediately handed the Patriots 15 on a PI that wasn't even PI. Honestly I expected the officiating to be even more one sided than it was. It usually is at Lambeau East. Yet the Pats fans on Reddit were convinced the refs favored US. 🙄

I wanted this win so bad. But I didn't expect us to win. My frustration is that the game was so winnable but we were self-sabotaged. Kind of the story of the season.

The one salvation is that I expected the day overall to be much worse. I thought the Bears would win. I thought the Panthers would win. I certainly thought the Packers would win. All lost. The Packers even shitcanned McCarthy. The Vikings end the day out of the playoffs, though only % points behind Washington(who I expect to get drilled by Philly on MNF).

I still say this team makes it into the playoffs if they get to 9 wins. I just hope our offensive coordinator gives us the chance to.