The Long Fall Ahead

Colts 28

Vikings 11

It has been a LONG time since a Vikings season was basically over before summer even ended.

I'm not QUITE ready to go there yet with the 2020 Vikings, but I sure am teetering after today's grotesque loss in Indianapolis.

I could excuse a drubbing on defense like we saw last week, under the circumstances. But today it was the other side of the ball, the side that I thought was going to be a major strength this year, that was a complete and utter failure and doomed any hopes of avoiding 0-2.

I am beyond disappointed so far in Gary Kubiak. After today's debacle he is looking like the second coming of John Defilippo. Cause I have not seen such a putrid, seemingly deliberately bad offensive game plan since those awful games that got the aforementioned Defillippo fired in 2018.

Last week was messy, but the offense had so little time on the field before the Packers got up big that it kind of threw everything out of whack. And the offense did produce, albeit in catch up mode.

Today's game was just horseshit. Once again they did have a nice opening drive that produced points. I am never again going to trust that an opening scoring drive means anything, cause once again it got real ugly. And this time it stayed that way.

I bought in that Kubiak was going to play to the strengths of this offensive personnel, that he was going to move Kirk around with the "mobile pocket" and really make this offense hum. Instead he calls almost nothing but straight dropbacks for Kirk, almost nothing but outside throws for Thielen, nonstop Cook runs straight up the middle like he's Jerome Bettis, no screen passes. 

This team has offensive weapons, and Kubiak appears disinterested in using them. Dalvin Cook is treated like an afterthought. In a game that was never more than a 2 possession game until the 4th quarter, Cook only totaled 16 touches, and close to half came very late once the game was decided. And not a screen pass to be found.

Kubiak is treating Thielen like Mike Tice treated Randy Moss during the "Randy ratio" fiasco years ago. I mean, it's not a BAD thing to throw the ball to Adam Thielen, but he is being favored way more now than ever before, and very much at the expense of everyone else.

There were some missed opportunities on offense today. Collectively the Vikings pass catchers dropped more passes today than in any game in years, including a pair of would be big gainers to Rudy and Irv. And one would be key Irv catch was.wiped out by a bullshit OPI. But there was no margin for error with this gameplan.

The offensive line was horrible. The switch at RG from Elflein to Samia showed early promise but then fell.apart. Honestly I have no idea who was getting beat here. The whole unit was.such a siv that it's hard to pinpoint who did what and when. But again, it doesn't help when your playcalling offers nothing for the defense to think about. If all you're ever going to do is drop Kirk straight back and run right up the middle, the opponent is going to know what's coming.

Okay, now on to Kirk. The Kirk haters got the full plate today. Kirk played bad, and didn't even get stats in garbage time (which is of course any point in any game according to the haters). Yes, Kirk was bad today. It was possibly the worst game he has played in purple. The drops certainly didn't help, but he looked skittish all day and misfired on a few throws.

He also threw 3 picks and took another safety. The safety this time was on him. He has to get the ball out faster than he did, even for just a throwaway. I didn't like that the refs blew the play dead as quick as they did, but whatever. 

As for the 3 picks, the first one was late in the 1st half, where Kirk basically just chucked a deep ball in desperation to make a play. It would have been no different than a punt, but we.then allowed a long return on it that set up a Colts field goal.

The second was on a half ending hail mary, which was nothing. Could have just as easily fallen incomplete. 

And the 3rd one clanged right off Bisi Johnson's hands and was picked off.

It was a total offensive failure today, and it marred a day of incremental improvement by the defense.

No, I am not saying the defense was good today. They still got gashed on the ground by Jonathan Taylor. They still gave up some big plays through the air. They still had some issues with tackling.

But a lot of the points they did give up were on short fields after turnovers (plus a lousy punt). They got some pressures on Rivers (including an Ngakoue strip sack), and did get a pick too. 

It wasn't stellar by any means, but it was a credible enough performance that would have made the game very winnable if not for the offensive disaster.

The Vikings are already in a deep hole, already 2 games behind both the Packers and Bears, and looking very worthy of their winless record. And they have problems that I just don't see being quick fixes. The defense was always going to be a process, but how do you fix the offense when the problems we have should never have emerged at all? Turning an offense with that personnel into a liability is inexplicable.

We really are in a do or die type of spot next week back home against Tennessee. Lose that and there is no salvaging this season as far as playoff contention (only a couple 0-3 teams have ever made the playoffs). Lose that one, and the fate of this season will be sealed as one of rebuilding. Lose it badly again, and then we have to wonder if this thing is going to spiral out of control.

Lose that one and this is going to be a long fall in more ways than one.

Other week 2 Sunday thoughts:

Packers won big over Detroit. Chicago eeked by the Giants. As of now the north is a 2 team race and we aren't one of the 2.

The Falcons lost in spectacular fashion in Dallas. The defensive lapses were bad enough, but how do you just LET Dallas recover the onside kick?

The Rams smoked the Eagles. Are the Rams back? Is Philly just bad?

The 49ers won but suffered some major injuries. The Cardinals won easily.

Tampa won, so the national media will slurp Brady for the next week, even though his stats were pedestrian.

Stefon Diggs had a big game in the Bills win. I saw Sack Daddy got a sack for Dallas. 

The Chiefs snuck out a win in LA because yet again Mahomes was the ultimate cheat code. Baltimore blew out Houston in Houston.