KICKED TO THE BRINK

BUCCANEERS 26

VIKINGS 14

I thought the Vikings would lose this game. Facing a superior team, coming off a bye mostly healthy, with an already depleted defense pushed to the limit without Eric Kendricks...I mean it would have been truly one of the signature wins of Mike Zimmer's coaching career.

But the fact that the win never came is equal parts frustrating and infuriating. Most of this roster played well enough to win today. But one inside saboteur and a group of biased zebras, sprinkled with some horribly timed blocking meltdowns, has us once again sitting outside of the playoffs.

The Vikings had the gameplan today. They did. Facing one of the NFL's best run defenses, the Vikings came out and refused to concede the matter. Dalvin ran great right from the start. We mixed in some Boone and Abdullah. And even Kirk got out for some good scrambles. We controlled the ball. And certainly this was going to pay huge dividends later in the game with play action.

Except none of that ended up happening. 

Our first drive stalled with a sack, but we got it going again on drive two. This one ended as Cook powered into the endzone. So we led 7-0. 

Except we didn't lead 7-0. Dan Bailey, who last week missed 2 PATs as well as a field goal, shanked the kick. This was only the beginning. Our next drive we were moving again. We stalled in the redzone, but it was easy field goal range.

Except it wasn't easy field goal range. Not for Dan Bailey, who pushed the 36 yard kick way right.

I think we all knew that the momentum we had was shot. Tampa quickly scored, as Dipshit Brady hit his 1 deep ball of the day, as Anthony Harris (doing his best to clinch the title of Most Disappointing Player of 2020) simply stood there and let the receiver fly by him with Gladney in single coverage. So Tampa had made 1 play all game, in a game we had basically dominated to that point, yet had the lead. Because of one guy.

Undeterred, Kirk led the offense back down the field again. This time the drive stalled out in long field goal range. Frankly I thought the obvious move here was to try to get Colquitt to pin Tampa deep. After all, they had not consistently moved the ball on us yet, with Brady missing throws and us containing the run.

Instead Zimmer trotted out Bailey again, this time for a 54 yard field goal. Now look, a 54 yard field goal can go either way. But this kick was embarrassingly off. The thing had to have been at least ten yards wide right. Each kick was getting worse. And of course the Bucs now had good field position, against a team systematically having the energy sucked out of it.

And Tampa went down the field again. And then, as if the Bailey disaster wasn't bad enough, now we had to deal with the refs. Harrison Smith made a 3rd down tackle. But, because it is Harrison Smith in 2020 here came a flag...for lowering the head to initiate contact. Never mind that the runner did the EXACT SAME THING. First down Bucs. Then 2 plays later, Brady threw a bad out pass to Mike Evans, who stumbled and fell down. Gladney had an interception. But once it was clearly a pick, here came the flag for PI. Evans fell on his own. It was a bad throw. Gladney made the play, and the refs took it away in the service of Brady. Tampa scored on the next play and it was now 14-6. 

But that was just the prelude to the worst, most rigged pair of consecutive plays I have ever seen. After the next Vikings drive went 3.and out and we punted, Brady hit a pass over the middle. He ran up to spike the ball...and the clock literally stopped at 1 second, for at least 3 seconds. Just long enough for him to spike the ball. Time ran out! They literally handed Brady one more play. Then the golden boy launched a jump ball hail mary towards future CTE victim Ron Gronkowski. It was incomplete....but they called pass interference. Todd Davis got flagged for doing literally nothing. Every jump ball hail mary in NFL history has had guys bumping into each other. It's just accepted that you don't ever call PI on these unless there is something truly egregious. Davis did nothing. That piece of shit Gronk got the call, the first PI call on such a play in the NFL in over a decade. Tampa kicked the gift field goal and led 17-6. After Bailey had left 7 points on the field, the refs rubbed salt in the wound by handing the home team 7 of their own. Blatantly rigged bullshit.

The Vikings got pretty much run over on Tampa's 1st drive of the 2nd half. Brady hit Mr. CTE for a 23-6 lead. It was clear that the combo of Bailey and the rigging refs had sapped the whole team of life.

Everything had gone to hell. From the 54 yard Bailey miss til now the Vikings had run 3 offensive plays and 7-6 had become 23-6. The run game we had working was now going to have to be largely abandoned, further exposing our OL and making matters harder for Kirk.

But the Vikings showed some resilience. They needed 8+ minutes to do it, but they drove down for a touchdown, on an Irv Smith grab. Then we smartly went for 2 and got that. We were back in the game.

Our defense bounced back and got us the ball back, and we got to driving again. Kirk hit a few, and on a QB draw got us a 1st and goal. But then an incomplete pass was followed up by consecutive OL meltdowns leading to sacks. We had goal to go on the 28, and at that point you almost had no choice but to try it with Bailey again. And once again our soon to be ex-kicker failed us. He pushed it wide right yet again. 

Half the 4th quarter remained, but that was the last moment of the day we had any real chance. A late desperation drive was ended by another blocking meltdown and a strip sack and we became a sub-.500 football team again. 

I put the blame for the loss entirely on 3 entities: Bailey, the OL and the refs. The refs also ignored Chad Beebe getting speared on a punt return, and a clear hit to Kirk's head. But hey, that late 2nd quarter debacle was more than enough to accomplish their goal of ensuring the golden boy will be in the playoffs. It's disgusting to see the NFL rig a game to prop up their faded golden boy. He is having the same late season swoon he did last year. He hit the 1 deep pass today but was off all the time despite the fact we never got a sack or even really got close. Any team Tampa faces in January with any kind of defensive front will win easily.

As for our failings, we knew the OL was in for a mismatch, but in the 1st half they mostly were good. They blew open running lanes and were decent enough protecting Kirk. Once the game got one sided it became rough though. They picked the worst times to have meltdowns. We had a couple brief injuries too. Dru Samia saw the field, and we never wanted to see THAT again. With the Bears looming we need that midseason OL back now.

And back to Bailey. The spotlight was on him this week after his 3 misses against Jacksonville. And instead of bouncing back like a veteran should, he had an even worse, even more team damaging game. Even Blair Walsh never had consecutive games THIS awful. 7 missed kicks in 2 weeks. He has to go. He just does. You know, Danny Boy has had a relatively easy ride in his 2 years here. Not a lot of pressure kicks. Last week was his only game winner and it was a chippie. But now he gets a little bit of pressure and he is trash. There is no reason for him to be our kicker next week.

He cost us a minimum of 6 today (the PAT miss was wiped out by the 2, and a 54 yarder is always a chance). The refs flat out gave the Bucs 7. 13 total points in a game we lose by 12. That's 2020 for you. You would think that a team like the Vikings already facing a never ending stream of adversity would get a break.

But it ain't over til it's over. Arizona is a game up again, but they finish with the Eagles, 49ers and Rams. All are loseable. The Rams especially will likely need that week 17 game. And at this point all I want is to go into week 17 still alive.

Other Sunday thoughts...

Seriously though Giants. You go to Seattle and basically dominate. Then you play like that against Arizona? Washington moved back ahead of them in the east, beating the 49ers.

The Jalen Hurts era in Philly began, and they beat the Saints.

The Saints loss put the Packers atop the NFC, as they beat Detroit and clinched the north. Whatever. I still think the Saints, Rams and Seahawks are all better.

Chicago ended their losing streak by blasting Houston. That's good for us, I think. You never really want to play the team on the big losing streak.

Seattle murdered the Jets.

In the AFC, the Chiefs won the west. Through it all I still see them as big repeat favorites.

Indy kind of crushed Vegas. The Raiders have to be about done at this point. Pretty humbling 3 weeks for them.