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VIKINGS 34

LIONS 20

This strange Vikings season has reached its midpoint. They are not where I thought they would be (I figured 4-4 at worst). They have at times looked absolutely hapless, at times brilliant.

Today they looked much more the latter in earning their 1st home win of the year, dispatching the Lions. While less eye opening than their big upset in Green Bay  last week, this too was a complete performance on both sides of the ball.

And it was the first game of the season that was kind of no sweat. The Vikings got up multiple scores early, finishing their 1st 2 surgical drives with a Cook run and a short Kirk to Irv pass. The Lions had a scoring chance, but Matt Prater missed a field goal. Once you saw that Prater of all people could miss a kick against us there was little.doubt who would win the day.

The Lions did.get in the endzone late in the first half to close to within 13-10. But then we got one of the best 2 minute drills in recent memory. With 1:30 left and 3 timeouts, the offense zipped down the field so efficiently that by the time a dump off pass to Ameer Abdullah became a touchdown the Vikings still had 2 of those timeouts.

The Lions never threatened again in the 2nd half. The Vikings expanded the lead with a drive highlighted by a beautiful drop in pass to Jefferson that ended in Irv's 2nd TD of the day. Then after a Lions field goal Dalvin got loose, bursting for a 70 yard TD run.

And right in front of Adrian Peterson, in his 3rd visit back here with his 3rd different team. It was a real quiet game for him. It was also a quiet return for Everson Griffen, who is still a good player though. 😏

The 2nd half also became a lot less dangerous when Matthew Stafford took a knee to the side of the helmet and was out the rest of the game. In came Chase Daniel, who beat us last year in Chicago, but today did nothing.

The Vikings offense was very efficient today. That OL just looks like a totally different unit since the bye. Is it Ezra Cleveland, who has taken to RG like a duck to water? Is it just coaching? Obviously when you can run block this well you can control things.

Cousins was a little more active today. They ran some great play action. No turnovers for the 2nd straight game, which was big. The improved OL play has to be making Kirk feel more comfortable back there.

Zimmer's defense again hung in there. This game was a less impressive accomplishment than last week, but Stafford is a dangerous QB and we did very well against him when he was in there, even though someone called Chris Jones was one of our primary cornerbacks today. On back to back drives Stafford was picked by Eric Wilson and then the godly Eric Kendricks in the endzone. And Harrison Smith later picked off Daniel. Shamar Stephen had a really impressive bull rush sack. Jeff Gladney had probably his best game yet. The Lions have a lot of weapons but Zim never let them get in the game.

The only flub in this game was the, frankly, rather embarrassing display by the special teams. An early PAT was missed, KJ Osborn continued to look like a mess on returns (he turned one punt return into a 10 yard loss), and somehow we had TWO punts blocked. Marwin Maloof is not going to have a pleasant week.

On the bright side, the 2nd block led to a quick Lions touchdown, which led to Dalvin being brought back into a game seemingly already clinched, and that did give him the chance to get his 1st 200 yard game. Cook is simply the best RB in the NFL and I simply do not think it is close right now. Even having missed a game (plus half the Seattle game) he is on pace for a 2,000 yards from scrimmage season. We are seeing peak Cook right now. He has responded to his somewhat controversial contract extension by elevating his game further. He is clearly the MVP of this team, and really only the team's overall record is keeping him from being a legit league MVP candidate.

The Vikings still sit outside of the playoff field, of course. But they are only 2 games back of the Cardinals and Rams, who currently sit tied for the last 2 wild cards. And both those teams have much tougher schedules left than we do, including 2 games against each other. (We also still trail the Bears and 49ers but any run by us would mean we overtake them too)

If we can solve the Matt Nagy Bears, and specifically the Soldier Field hex, on MNF next week a lot of possibilities open up for the Vikings. After that we get that 3 game homestand in which we should be favored in all 3. It's hardly unthinkable to think we could have a 6 game win streak.

If nothing else, we got a damn good shot to have relevant football in December, which sure seemed impossible 2 weeks ago.

Other Sunday thoughts...

SNF was a real eye opener. I picked the Saints to win, but nobody thought they would destroy Tampa like that. This was a real statement win, and puts the Saints atop the NFC. 

Seattle was at the top but their defense got trucked by the Bills and a sloppy Wilson couldn't keep up.

The Steelers had one of those days, playing a Dallas team starting a FOURTH string QB. But they got the ugly win. They have NO chance to go undefeated though. 

I would put the Chiefs back at #1 in the AFC, even though they got a tougher than expected challenge from the Panthers. Hell of a game by Teddy.

The Bears seem to be falling apart, as the Titans handled them easily. The Packers are probably going to run away with the north now.

The Dolphins might be for real. They went into Arizona and won. Tua looked really good. This whole rookie QB class looks great (hopefully Jordan Love will be the 1 dud). Miami and Buffalo battling atop the AFC East is a great 90's throwback. 

Baltimore won at Indy, re-asserting themselves as one of the AFC's elite. The AFC is so much better than the NFC this year it's ridiculous.