Cooking Up A Cheese Stew

VIKINGS 28

PACKERS 22

The least anticipated Vikings game for me in a very long time turned out to be one of their most unexpected and satisfying wins in a very long time.

This is not a win that is going to save the season, or propel them back into playoff contention (although they have a decent shot to be just 2 back in the loss column in the division by next Sunday night). But damn it was it a fun win to get. To go into Lambeau Field, with such a depleted defensive roster, and take down the media darling Packers and their lord and savior Aaron Rodgers, is SO satisfying. 

It was a strange game from the start. The first half had only 4 drives in it (aside from a 1 play Packer drive that killed clock before halftime). Green Bay methodically drove down the field and scored two touchdowns. Minnesota methodically drove down the field and scored two touchdowns. The only difference was the Packers were doing a lot more dink and dunk passing, while the Vikings rode Dalvin.

After halftime is where the game turned. The Vikings offense kept humming, as the opening drive of the 3rd quarter ended with Cook's 3rd rushing touchdown.

But the Vikings defense finally got a stop. The Packers went for a 4th down rather than try a long field goal in a strong wind. And Rodgers's deep pass fell incomplete. It would not be the last time the Zim Reaper Babies stood tall on a 4th down play.

And just a few plays later, Gary Kubiak dialed up a Dalvin screen pass on 3rd and long. And it was BEAUTIFUL! The setup was perfect, the blocking was perfect, and Dalvin was perfect as he sprinted 50 yards for a touchdown, making him the first Viking with 4 in one game since 1979. I have seemingly been pleading for screen passes for years, and to finally get one like that was amazing. 

The Vikings defense kept battling. The next 2 Packer drives ended in a punt, and then another failed 4th down Rodgers throw (which was initially, ludicrously flagged as PI).

The Vikings offense, as usual, struggled to close the game out. Their 3 4th quarter drives ended in 3 punts.

The middle drive of those ended on a failed 3rd and 1 run by Cook. I thought they got too vanilla with the lead. Cousins only threw 1 pass in the 4th quarter.

Rodgers did finally lead another scoring drive, and after the Packers made a 2 (which was a rather terrible overturn) it was a 6 point game.

And we gave Rodgers the ball back for one last drive. But at least we ate up a lot.of the clock, and all the Packers timeouts. We gave Russell Wilson almost 2 minutes. Rodgers took his 1st snap with 47 seconds left. 

Still, the Packers got across midfield, and the fear was obviously getting beat by a hail mary. And suffering a 3rd 1 point loss in 7 games.

But DJ Wonnum ran up behind a scrambling Rodgers, smacked his arm just before he could throw, and forced a game sealing fumble! And the refs actually let it stand. 

In a most unlikely of wins, perhaps the most surprising thing was that the refs called a fair game. They called FIVE offensive holds on Green Bay. That has to be a record. You don't get that many holding calls on them in a whole season. Yeah the refs let some stuff slip, like that 2 point play, an obvious OPI on one Packer TD and a terrible OPI on Irv that killed a drive. But you really can't ask for much more from Lambeau refs.

This was obviously a signature game for Dalvin Cook. 226 total yards and 4 scores. Complain all you want about paying him that contract, but he is easily one of the 5 best non-quarterbacks in football. He can do it all, and did today. I don't know if it was always the plan to use Cook this much today, or if the wind made a difference. Either way Kirk was reduced to a game manager. But in a season where Kirk has been way too turnover prone, it made a huge difference today that he played a clean game. No turnovers, only 1 sack. You can't have those big negative plays to win games like this, and they didn't.

This was a major achievement by Mike Zimmer, and a repudiation of all that "Fire Zimmer" bullshit flying around lately. He is still a damn good coach, because only a damn good coach can pull off a win like this with this defensive personnel. At best he's got maybe 5 of his original planned 11 out there. This was the first game since the Ngokoue trade. And then he lost THREE more corners today, including a nasty injury by the seemingly cursed Cam Dantzler that looked like a serious neck injury at the time, and a non-contact injury to Kris Boyd. 

I frankly don't even know who Zimmer had out there a lot of the time. Aside from a few remaining established starters, it is such a patchwork of backups and rookies and just guys off the street basically. And he took these spare parts and found a way to beat the high flying Packers. First win over Matt Lafleur. First win over the Packers since 2018, first at Lambeau since 2017, and first win over Rodgers at Lambeau since 2015.

It makes that Atlanta disaster even more baffling. Remove that game and the progress this team has made since weeks 1 and 2 is undeniable. This is why I never bought the idea that they quit in the Atlanta game. It was just awful play. This team is playing hard. They gave it everything today, and this time their effort didn't go for naught in the final seconds.

So while I am not back to thinking they can make a miracle run to the playoffs, I AM back to thinking they will have a good 2nd half to the season. The effort is there. The talent is there. The experience is not there, but guys like Jeff Gladney and DJ Wonnum can clearly play, and made big plays on that final drive to secure.a big win.

It's sad that so many so-called Vikings fans lament this win cause "it herrts err drefft perrserrtion." Wins like this are why we watch, why we get into it. Even in a forgettable season this was an unforgettsble win. 

Other Sunday thoughts...

Everyone else in the NFC North lost. The Bears lost in OT to the Saints, who just keep grinding out wins. And the Lions kind of got rolled at home by the Colts. 

The ever impressive Steelers stayed unbeaten. I figured their trip to Baltimore was an obvious spot for their 1st loss, but they made a comeback and got the win.

It's finally reality. The Patriots hold on the AFC East is over! The Bills came close to blowing it but held on to win, and are now 3 games clear of their nemesis. Miami is actually their only competition now, as they kind of rolled the perplexing Rams in Tua's 1st start.

Seattle beat the 49ers to regain the top spot in the NFC. Fwiw that last-in wild card spot did fall back towards us a bit today. If we can break the Soldier Field hex we COULD actually get on a real win streak.

Over in the AFC, the Chiefs rolled the Jets. A lot of times those huge mismatches lead to teams kind of winning ugly but KC had no time for that. 

The Raiders beat the Browns, who are once again starting to look like frauds.

Denver made a big comeback to beat the Chargers. 

And the Bengals pulled a big upset beating Tennessee. Joe Burrow is putting up a lot of stats, and also some wins now.