BACK FROM THE DEAD

VIKINGS 28

PANTHERS 27

It was over. Game. Season. All of it. When, with just over 2 minutes left today Chad Beebe muffed a punt inside the Vikings own 10 and the Panthers recovered, that was simply the final mistake among many that had doomed the Vikings to a terrible loss that was going to.put the final nail in the coffin to the 2020 season.

Instead this became maybe the most miraculous Vikings victory since the Minneapolis Miracle. Just when all appeared completely lost, this team crawled back out of the grave they spent much of the afternoon digging for themselves.

To be sure, the Vikings did not play well today. The first half was decent enough. In an unwelcome throwback to September, we had that thing again where the first offensive series was really good and then the offense sputtered. The run game never really got going. Kirk made some plays but the OL play was really rough with Ezra Cleveland out again.

Their 7-0 lead held up for a while but eventually Teddy Bridgewater hit a crossing route to a receiver being covered by, uh, Ifeadi Odenigbo and the game was tied.

Our sleepy offense perked back up again for a solid 2 minute drive (despite what the idiots online were saying). It got a little sloppy at the end, and Jefferson just missed hauling one in in the endzone, but we got a field goal and retook the lead.

But disaster struck in a blink early in the 3rd quarter. Kirk got absolutely destroyed on a 3rd down bum rush, fumbled, and it was scooped up and run in for a Panthers touchdown. On the very first play of the next series, Dalvin lost the ball in a pile, and the same damn defender picked up THAT fumble and returned it for another touchdown. To add to the misery Dalvin was hurt bad enough that he had to be helped off the field. So within 2 minutes you had given up 14 points and your best player was hurt. In that moment it sure felt like the season was over.

It didn't help when Zimmer elected to punt on a 4th and 1 near midfield on the next drive and Carolina began moving right down the field. But we held them to a field goal try, which DJ Wonnum blocked. It didn't really seem like a major play at the time, but it would prove crucial.

We drove down ourselves but also had to settle for a field goal, which Bailey hit. So it was at least a 1 possession game again, but then Teddy hit his one big deep ball of the day on a drive that got Carolina that 3 back.

Undaunted, Kirk got back out there and led a drive that got us to within 3. Dalvin was back in and had a couple good runs. Kirk had some nice throws to Rudy and Bisi, then found Jefferson for the score and Bisi for the 2.

We needed our defense to step up...and they kind of did. Carolina was able to burn a few minutes off, but we forced a punt. 

Then came the aforementioned Beebe muff. An inexcusable mistake that looked to have ended the game. But we still had both a timeout and 2 minute warning, which got taken up by 2 runs. Then Carolina went for the win, but Teddy misfired in the endzone, so the Panthers got just the 3, and didn't take really any time off. Maybe 20 seconds were gone.

So here we were again. Kirk getting the ball late with 1 chance left. Just like last week. Just like the Tennessee game. But whereas both those chances flamed out completely, this one was just beautiful. Kirk goes 6 for 7 for 75 yards. He hits Rudy on a big pass down to the 10, then zips a touchdown pass to...Chad Beebe! Talk about some instant redemption! He actually caught 3 passes on this drive.

It was too good a drive, cause we left too much time for Teddy. And sure enough, Teddy lofted a pass about 30 yards downfield that somehow landed in between 3 of our guys, including Harrison Smith who was inches from a game ending pick. A couple more plays got them in field goal range. Sure it was going to be a long kick, and sure we blocked that one earlier, but when was the last time an opposing kicker actually missed against the Vikings with the game on the line?

Well that answer now is today, because Joey Slye pushed that kick badly to the left, and we had escaped with one hell of an improbable win.

This was a really huge win for Kirk. This was a season on the line game. The OL was bad. Thielen was out. Cook went out. If Kirk doesn't get the job done on both of those last 2 drives we lose and the last 5 weeks become just for show. He put the team on his back like never before. Even in the Saints playoff game the run game was there for him. Even the Denver comeback last year he had a whole half to get that done. This was Kirk leading his team back from the brink of disaster. It's exactly the reason you brought him here. You can say "oh it's just Carolina" all you want, but they just shut out Matthew Stafford last week and lost close games to the Saints and Chiefs. You don't have to apologize for wins like this. And Kirk was good the whole game too. He evaded pressure, he had a few good scrambles, he spread the ball around.

In Thielen's absence we got an excellent game from Jefferson, and easily the biggest games of the year from Bisi and of course Beebe. Even Brandon Dillon caught a pass. And even Tajae Sharpe got a ball thrown his way.

The defense only actually gave up 13 of the 27 points, but they really didn't play that well. Kendricks got his now almost obligatory pick. We had a few nice plays in the secondary. But the tackling was awful, the run defense got gashed again, and we got burned for a few big passing plays. We were frankly very lucky that Carolina had some poor playcalling at times and that Teddy missed on a couple big throws.

Teddy's return seemed all set up to activate the hot takers regarding him and Kirk, but this game hopefully put to bed the idea that Kirk is the inferior quarterback.

This was such a huge day for the Vikings. It was a huge shot of adrenaline for our playoff hopes. Everything we needed to happen happened. We got the win. The Cardinals got upset by the Patriots (hey if you gotta root for the Patriots they better get it done). Tampa Bay wasn't destroyed by the Chiefs but still lost. The Rams lost in upset fashion to the 49ers. And as I type this the Bears are being stomped by the Packahs. So as the weekend ends, we will have tied Chicago for the 8 spot (but we have the tiebreaker) so we would be the 1st team out at the moment. And we sit just a game back of Arizona for the 7 spot. We sit a game and a half back of Tampa. And we sit 2 back of the Rams. So yes, if we can simply beat Jacksonville next week at the purple palace we will go to Tampa in 2 weeks and play for a playoff position. And I'm not sure on the tiebreakers but if Arizona loses to the Rams next week and we win, we may already be in that 7 spot.

Point is none of this was going to matter until we pulled off this Houdini act today. The Vikings have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory a couple times this year, but on this day we got an early Christmas miracle.

Other Sunday thoughts...

In one of the year's most inexplicable results, a Raiders team that seemed to be surging, and just last week nearly swept the Chiefs, goes into Atlanta and gets absolutely massacred 43-6.

The Titans really re-asserted their hold over the AFC South by going into Indy and really rolling the Colts. It was about this time last year they really hit their stride.

Cleveland struggled some with the Jaguars but clinched a very rare non-losing season. They have a few tough games left but they seem to be a solid bet to get a wild card.

The Giants won at Cincy in unimpressive fashion, and lost Daniel Jones, yet still technically lead the NFC east.

The Saints blew out the Broncos, who due to COVID had no available quarterbacks and had to start a practice squad WR.