Severe Growing Pains

Packers 43

Vikings 34

The Vikings opened their 60th season in an empty stadium, but I think even the cardboard cutouts in the endzones were disappointed by the performance of the team.

This was bad. This was very bad. This was the worst defensive performance of the Mike Zimmer era, and honestly probably one of the worst in the whole 60 years.

I think we all knew that there were going to be some rough games with this extremely young group of corners, and this defense that has had an unprecedented loss of veteran talent since they had last taken the field in January. But today was honestly way worse than even my biggest fears. It was like every single nightmare scenario at once, made all the worse considering who got to benefit from our misfortune. 

It didn't start this way. Early on this defense was in very much a bend but don't break mode. Green Bay took the opening kickoff and went right down the field, but we stiffened deep and held them to a field goal.

And our first drive on offense was terrific. We had a nice mix of run and pass. Kirk got out of the pocket a couple times, and hit Thielen for some nice gains. And Cook took it into the endzone.

So even when the Packahs were going right back down the field again I wasn't sweating it. It was clearly going to take a lot of points to win today, is all.

The defense actually came up big again. A touchdown was reviewed and ruled just short, and then we had a bonafide goal line stand. The Packahs only had 3 points to show for 2 long drives. 

Then one stupid ass play call started the downward spiral. For some inexplicable reason, from our own 2 or 3 yard line, Gary Kubiak called a play action pass with a deep dropback. So stupid. Your #1 priority from that spot is to just not get a safety. Well, we got a safety. The Packers blitzed a safety, we didn't pick him up, and Kirk had no choice but to eat the ball. Just a terrible play call.

So we kick the ball back, and while the defense again held Green Bay to 3, we never led again. 

Our offense had a 3 and out. The Packers drive down the field again, and this time get in the endzone on a Rodgers TD pass.

We get the ball back at this point with under a minute left in the half. This is the scenario where year after year the fans bitch and moan every time the Vikings play it safe on offense. Well, today provided an example of why safe can be smart.

We had timeouts so we tried something. And Kirk got picked off. It was a bad decision, and a bad throw. And almost immediately Rodgers lofts another touchdown pass.

And just like that the game has gone from 8-7 to 22-7 and you have run 2 offensive plays in between. We actually snuck in a field goal before halftime, but it was still so disheartening to have a close game get out of hand so fast.

We still had a shot if the offense could keep pace, and we did get the ball to start the 2nd half. But our opening drive stalled out quickly. And after finally forcing a punt our next drive also fizzled.

We had a 4th and 3 at Green Bay's 39 and went for it. Totally agreed with going for it. Totally baffled by the play call, a deep out route down the sideline targeting....Tajae Sharpe? Seriously, Kubiak? Game is basically on the line at that point and you call a low percentage pass to our 4th best WR? 

Well that was basically our last chance to win. Green Bay zipped right down the field for another touchdown.

We actually spent the rest of the game trading touchdowns. In between more effortless Packer scores, Cook ran in another, and Kirk tossed a pair to Thielen. The offense seemed willing and able to make another comeback (like we have each of the last 2 years against Green Bay), but you need both sides of the ball to contribute.

It was a perfect storm on defense. Early they are so sloppy they can't get off the field. Then later they are so worn out they also can't get off the field.

All day they struggled to tackle. Their pass rush was non-existent. Rodgers was never sacked, and only even ended up on the ground once or twice. Yeah we had to deal with the eternal issue of the Packers OL being allowed to hold constantly, but it wasn't just that. The secondary needed all the help they could get, and they got none. The defense simply did not do anything all day to rattle Rodgers. They didn't stop the run particularly well. They failed in coverage (most of the big pass plays were painfully easy). No turnovers. And we jumped offsides like 4 times. It was awful. And it led to an absurd time of possession disparity of over 20 minutes. Green Bay held the ball for well over a quarter longer than us.

Our offense was actually very efficient on that end. 34 points with less than 19 minutes TOP. But they weren't consistent enough to keep up. It wasn't all garbage time, as the Kirk haters will insist, but some of those mistakes helped this game get out of hand. If the defense is going to be this vulnerable, then sustaining drives and scoring points will be even more imperative.

I'm encouraged that the offense wound up being this productive even through the sloppiness. Cook and Mattison both ran well. Thielen looked good. Justin Jefferson had a couple nice catches. The OL was okay. Brian O'Neill played terribly, but only the sack he gave up was on the line. Protection was mostly adequate. I'm just wondering where this mobile pocket Kubiak kept talking about was. Kirk actually scrambled several times but they were more out of necessity than strategy.

The whole vibe of the game felt wrong. The lack of fans was even worse than I thought it would be. There was no energy. Even fake crowd noise would have been welcome, but what noise was there was so mild that you didn't even notice it. Even MLB has found a way to somewhat simulate a real crowd's energy. I'm sure the NFL had more to do with deciding what noise could or could not be pumped in than the Vikings did, but any home field advantage is clearly just gone for this year. And you could tell how it affected the team. For a road team a quiet crowd is always a win. The Vikings could have used even a fake crowd to feed off of in the 2nd half. Not sure that would have made the difference between winning and losing, but it couldn't have hurt.

All is not lost. The defense cannot possibly be this bad going forward, although Zimmer might have to be a little more of a chance taker to help that secondary. If things don't settle this may be forced into more of a strictly rebuilding year.

OTHER OPENING SUNDAY THOUGHTS

In round 1 of Belichick vs Brady, the clear winner is the coach. While the Patriots won with Cam Newton (against the team Brady couldn't beat in week 17 last year), Brady lost convincingly to the Saints. And he looked washed up, missing throws and getting pick sixed. He's only going to get more beat up as the season goes on. 

Mitch Trubisky led a huge comeback to beat the Lions. Time will tell if that's him turning the corner of if it's just the Lions. I mean, the would be winning touchdown WAS dropped.

Co-winners for surprise of the day are the Colts losing to Jacksonville and Washington beating Philly (and coming back from down 17-0). I had those teams winning about 3 games combined this year, and had Philly and Indy in the playoffs.

Teddy Bridgewater played pretty well, but the Raiders came back and beat Carolina. Buffalo handled the Jets but Diggs didn't do a whole lot. Kevin Stefanski's debut as a head coach was a disaster as the Browns got thumped by the Ravens. Adrian Peterson had a solid Lions debut.

Kyler Murray made me look smart for a week, leading a comeback win at San Francisco. Joe Burrow almost led a comeback against the Chargers but then his kicker pulled a Blair Walsh.