EXHAUSTED OF HOPE

BEARS 33

VIKINGS 27

An exhausting season in an exhausting year basically reached its conclusion today in an exhausting game that, fittingly, confirmed that all this exhaustion will not really have any payoff.

For the 2nd time in 3 years the Vikings concluded their home schedule by having the Bears come into US Bank Stadium and end our playoff hopes.

No, mathematically this is not technically the case yet, but, as someone who has held out hope as long as I could, let me assure you that the Vikings no longer have any chance of making the playoffs. It's over.

The holes were too big. 1-5 was too big a hole. The schedule made a playoff run possible. But what good does an "easy" home schedule do for you in a season where you have no home fans, and no home field advantage?

Today the Vikings finished their 1st losing season at home since 2011 by falling to a Bears team that we already beat on the road. And like most of our other home games, we really didn't play well.

Familiar issues reared their head early. Literally our first offensive play was a sack of Kirk. Our 2nd was a Cook run up the middle that got stuffed. Get used to these play calls.

Zimmer's scotch tape defense actually stopped Chicago's first drive, but then the onslaught began. The Bears scored on their next 6 possessions, aside from a kneel down. This was just a grotesque display. But not unexpected. This defense has been bad all year, and that was before losing Eric Kendricks, who was the 1 guy we really could not afford to lose. 

Our offense has to carry the load. It's been that way all year. But in the 1st half today, Gary Kubiak was basically sabotaging us on that side of the ball.

Our awful 1st series was followed up by an 8 play drive that tied the game on a Thielen touchdown. Drive 3 died cause Kirk got sacked.

By this point the Bears had built a 17-7 lead. We needed a spark. Zimmer decided to risk it by going for a 4th and 1 on our own 34. And what play does Kubiak draw up for this enormously important play? A deep handoff to Cook and a run straight up the middle. Well, to the surprise of no one, Cook was stuffed for a loss. It was just an unconscionably stupid play call.

It only cost us 3, but it was the moment it was clear that Kubiak has no idea what the hell he is doing.

But then the next series volleyed back the other way. Some quick passes, outside Cook runs and a Kirk scramble got us goal to go. Irv Smith dropped a TD though and we only got a field goal and went in at the half down 20-10.

I don't know what was more infuriating, that Kubiak obviously knows what good plays to call that work, or the insistence on always going back to the vanilla stuff that doesn't work. It makes zero logical sense, yet we have seen this all year.

Anyway, his schizophrenic play calling continued. The opening drive of the 3rd quarter was surgical. It was exactly what you want. Dalvin punched it in and it was a 3 point game.

Defense got schooled again and it was quickly a 10 point game again. But here comes the offense in response again. 69 yards on 3 passes. But then that nice start got tossed aside as Kubiak went back to the vanilla shit. 2 nothing passes and a short Cook run and we had to settle for the 3 just like that. Even on a single drive Kubiak couldn't get out of his own way. And we clearly could not afford to trade scores to begin with, let alone settle for 3s. Although hey, Dan Bailey was 5 for 5 on kicks today. 

We did actually hold the Bears to just 3 on the following drive. And then the schiz-O rolled down the field again to another score, this time as Tyler Conklin rumbled in.

But those 3s kept being costly in keeping us behind. And here come the Bears again on a drive I was sure was going to be the final dagger. David Montgomery is running down our throat. It's goal to go. It's over.

But then the Bears give us a gift. Trubisky tosses one to the endzone. Cam Dantzler leaps up and picks it off. A game that was 6 yards away from being over was now up for grabs. 3 minutes left, 2 timeouts, an offense that was unstoppable all half when the play calling wasn't self-sabotaging.

But Kubiak fucked us again. In the biggest drive of the season, he once again opted for the plays that are always doomed to fail.

1st down he ran Cook up the middle for just 3. 2nd down he had Kirk drop back in the pocket. It was a dump off for 6. Then, after burning off over 20 seconds, it was another Cook run up the middle for no gain. Then, after having the 2 minute warning to think of what to call on the most important play of the season, Kubiak calls a slow developing play fake that immediately puts Kirk on the run. Kirk backpedaled at least 10 yards then chucked an incomplete pass. This was an unforgivable series of play calls. Gary Kubiak cannot be allowed to remain on this coaching staff next year. 

I suppose the one upside was we kept our timeouts, which let us get the ball one final time, now down 6. And sure enough, NOW Kubiak was willing to make the calls he should have on the previous series. 3 quick passes got us to the Chicago 40. An out pass to Jefferson got us a little closer. And we had one shot at the endzone. I was certain Kirk would get sacked by the 3 man rush, but no he did get it off. And as hail marys go, you couldn't have really asked for a better shot. The ball was tipped up. Jefferson and Bisi were right there. But the ball landed in the hands of a Bear. Because of course it did. Because 2020.

I'm sure the media will just say Kirk failed. Bullshit. Kirk played his ass off today, as he has done all damn season. He's facing an excellent defense. His OL stinks. His OC is sabotaging him repeatedly. And he still dragged this team to the brink of a win.

But a win today would have required some luck, and luck has evaded us all season. This team fought back admirably from 1-5 and against odds that would have reduced most teams to 3 or 4 wins at most. But only the satisfaction of not caving in will be the reward. No playoffs. The Cardinals late win over the Eagles (which also was sealed by a futile hail mary) only sticks the dagger in further. We would now have to win out and have the Cards lose out, plus have the Bears lose at least 1 (and they play Jacksonville next week). We are finished.

It's just been a drain, this whole season. I know the Tank Nazis will now really never shut up about how we should have tanked the season, but fuck that. There's value in fighting back into this like they did. Tanking is for loser fans and loser franchises. I am crushed that we are not going to be able to turn that 1-5 start into a playoff berth, but I hope we finish out the season strong.

Other Week 15 thoughts....

As if the suck isn't strong enough, this weekend was basically perfect for the Packers. They held on to beat the Panthers last night (with some late ref help of course), and the Saints lost to the Chiefs. So the Pack are now likely to get the bye.

Saints didn't look bad though. I still make them NFC favorites. Seattle beat the Ex-Skins and jumped the Rams, who somehow managed to lose. At home. To the Jets. That's an all time head scratcher.

Tampa rallied to beat Atlanta. You know, as rough as our season has been, I'd rather be us than the Falcons, who have taught a master class all year on how to lose games.

Buffalo clinched the AFC East yesterday, for the first time since I was in high school. And today Miami eliminated the Patriots. Adios motherfuckers.

Colts, Titans and Ravens all kept pace. The Raiders loss last Thursday has them all but dead. Week 17 overall could wind up being pretty dull, cause all 14 playoff spots could be clinched.