Feasting On Mistakes And Home Cooking

Packers 21
Vikings 16

So many different ways to look at this one.

The Vikings came out today and were down 21-0 so fast it was a blur. And this simply something you cannot do, especially on the road, especially on the road against a decent team. The defense was slow and unresponsive. The Packers picked apart a thin Vikings secondary. They got no pressure on Rodgers. They were getting gashed on the ground. It was ugly stuff. But then they flipped a script almost completely. The Packers did not score another point for almost 3 full quarters to finish the game. Whatever Zimmer figured out, it was night and day. Rodgers was put on his cocky ass. Big stops were made on the run. We got turnovers.

The comeback was on. Or, it was when the Vikings were allowed to play football.

Cook had another long TD run to get us on the board, then Kirk hit Diggs for a TD right before the half to make it 21-14.

*record scratch*

No, instead the refs went under the hood on a review, for a play that was a no doubt touchdown, then came back and said "oh, uhhh, no touchdown. There was offensive pass interference, cause, uhhh, there was illegal blocking." I've never seen anything worse to justify taking away a TD. Cook got the flag, but he wasn't even blocking. It was not even a pick play. He did NOTHING. And the refs STOLE a TD from us. We only get 3. Then, right before the half we have another chance for points after a nifty slant to Diggs. Oh but here come the refs again to call a phantom OPI on Diggs. Scoring chance dead.

We all know that when you play certain teams in certain venues, you have to play the refs too. But this was collectively about as bad and blatantly biased as it.can ever get. Aside from the aforementioned plays, there was a holding on Bradbury where he didn't hold at all, a PI on Rhodes where he did nothing, a late hit flag on Beebe that was inexplicably picked up, a horrible non call on a Diggs play that should have been DPI, a personal foul on Diggs for removing his helmet off the field of play, at least 3 delays of game they didn't call on Green Bay..the list goes on. It was so bad even the announcers were talking about it. You see bad calls all the time, but the quantity of them today, and the slant almost entirely one way....I'm sorry, but shit like.this makes you not trust the league.

Also making the comeback tough, and naturally getting ALL the attention, was the performance of Kirk Cousins. And no, he had a very rough game at times. He made some big plays too. It was just very chaotic stuff all day.

Now the line wasn't great, although even on a bad day you can see that it's better than last year.

Cousins had a sack fumble that should have just been a sack. He threw a pick that was on Diggs's hands but was still a needless risk. He missed Diggs deep once, and was way off on a medium throw to Thielen that would have kept a drive going.

But he also hit that beautiful deep TD to Diggs. He hung in there on that long Beebe play. He moved in the pocket pretty well.

But the only play anyone will ever want to talk about is the one at the end. The Vikings had their best extended drive of the game, and had gotten it to first and goal. Their line was pushing the Packers defense downfield.

So, first mistake is why do you call a pass play at all? But they did. Kirk rolled out, had nothing, and I thought he was throwing it away....but it was in play, and in moments it was in the hands of a Packer. It was the last moment of the day the Vikings had a chance to win, and Kirk threw it away. He said after the game that it was an actual attempt to get the ball to Diggs in the corner. But Kirk, man, you should just have lied.and said it was a throwaway that you just didn't throw hard enough, cause this is worse. It was a completely unnecessary risk. 1st down. You could even have taken the 3 if it ended that way and still had a shot with the way the defense had shut it down.

I will still defend Kirk as the solid QB he is, but that was a terrible decision in that moment. And what's worse is it completely let the refs off the hook. It let's the 21-0 start off the hook. It even lets Dan Bailey off the hook(although the blocked PAT isn't on him). It emboldens the haters in fans and media(I bet Matthew Coller orgasmed when that pick happened). It puts a bad vibe onto all things Vikings now.

And it shouldn't. I picked the Vikings to lose this game. It's not some season-destroying loss at all. You get Green Bay here in December, so beat em then. It puts more pressure on that Chicago game in 2 weeks, is all. But I get so sick of fans going nuclear every time anything goes wrong. You lost a game. Get over it. They weren't going 16-0. The whole NFC playoff field is gonna be in that 8-12 win range. No reason at all the Vikings can't be in there.