VIKINGS SCREW THEMSELVES, THEN GET SCREWED

BENGALS 27

VIKINGS 24

OT

This game used up every second of the 70 minutes of gametime. And for probably 68 minutes of it, the story, win or lose at that point, was going to be about the Vikings and their self-inflicted mistakes.

But then in an instant we were reminded that this is the NFL of 2021, and that no matter what the outcome of a game appears set to be, ultimately that is in the hands of officials who can and will say and do whatever the hell they want to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

The first half was often ugly. I expected a fair amount of rust from the Vikings offense, and I got it. They didn't look good, and as it has been for years, when the Vikings offense does not look good it is almost entirely due to the offensive line. My cautious optimism about that unit based off their solid preseason work was proven immediately unwarranted. They were awful. Like an unwelcome rerun from previous years, here was Kirk getting no time to throw, being forced into dumpoffs, getting sacked. But this time they also weren't really run blocking at all. 

And the penalties. Oh my god the penalties. Every member of the line had at least 1 accepted penalty. It was hideous. The team overall had 10 at halftime. 

The Bengals weren't exactly tearing it up themselves though. The remade Zimmer defense looked the part early on. 

Our offense finally got some momentum. KJ Osborn made a terrific play along the sideline to get them out of one of their many 3rd and longs. A few plays later Kirk hit Thielen in the endzone. 

But then the defense began springing big leaks. Joe Burrow and Joe Mixon led the Bengals right back down for an answer score, helped by a DPI on Breeland (a replay for which was never shown). 

A would-be two minute drill for us was instantly ruined by a holding call. Then Burrow burned Breeland for a deep sideline touchdown.and suddenly the Vikings were reeling and down 14-7. They added on a couple more OL penalties.and hit the half.

The 3rd quarter started no better. Cindy carved right through our defense for another touchdown.

Another Vikings drive died due to a penalty, this an inexplicably idiotic personal foul on Oli Udoh for basically spearing a Bengal defender in the back on a dead play. 

The Vikings were dead. Just dead. No hope at all. 

The the Bengals opened the door back up. On 4th and 1 from their own 30, the Bengals went for it. Mixon stumbled getting the handoff, fell short and the Vikings were handed life. 

On 4th and 4, the Vikings smartly opted to go for it, and Kirk hit Thielen on a slant, who darted the rest of the way for  a touchdown.

The Bengals regained control with a field goal drive. But the Vikings offense had a little rhythm now, and Kirk led another touchdown drive. It should have been a Justin Jefferson touchdown, but he was ruled down at the 1. Zimmer rightly challenged, cause replay clearly showed JJ was in. But the refs decided to say, nah, no touchdown. So they stole a timeout from us. Cook got in on the next play, but still, losing a timeout in the 4th quarter of a tight game over ref bullshit is not okay. 

When Danielle Hunter sacked Burrow on the next series, we had a shot, after all this, to go win. A shot that was immediately torpedoed by a Rashod Hill holding penalty. We had no choice but to punt. 

The defense somehow got us one last shot. And for once there were no penalties and no atrocious blocks, and Kirk was at least able to get us in range for a long field goal try. And Greg Joseph boomed that shit! Tie game. Off to overtime.

Neither team could really get much going in OT. Punts were traded, including an amazing one by our guy Berry. But with a little over 3 minutes left we got the ball and got driving. We reached the outskirts of field goal range. Cook took a handoff and picked up a couple innocuous yards. 

But there was a problem. He fumbled. Or, more to the point, the Bengal defense thought he fumbled. And they made a big display of it, so one of the officials who had no idea what happened decided to say it was a fumble and Cincy ball.

Now, in theory you call it this way because you can automatically review a turnover. But this soon became one of the all time ref cheat jobs against the Vikings. Replays showed pretty conclusively that Cook's ass hit the turf before the ball  came loose. And yet the ref came back and said "the call stands." Call stands. Meaning that the review, to them, was inconclusive. What a scheme. Call something wrong on the field so you can then review it and play dumb and say "well we don't know" so the call on the field is what matters. Not the clear replay that showed said call was WRONG.

Moments later the Bengals kicked a game winning field goal, but the game was decided on the Cook call. The call prevented the Vikings from having any chance to win, or any chance to cover the spread (I'm SO sure that's a coincidence).

The fact is that, despite all the stuff that happened for 68 minutes of football, the Cook call determined the game. After that RIGGED call the Vikings had no chance left to win.

This is the NFL now. We saw it in last year's playoffs. We saw it last Thursday night. I naively figured we would be safe in a random noon game between 2 non-marquee teams, but no. Nobody is safe from the NFL's new S.O.P. of rigging outcomes, either for their own interests or those of gamblers. 

Naturally the shield protectors, the ref apologists, or just the "fans" and media who hate the Vikings immediately all pivot to the "well it shouldn't have come down to that" or the ludicrous old chestnut that "refs don't decide games" as if we did not all just see what we saw. Pure gaslighting. 

Two things are facts here:

1. The Vikings made a lot of self-inflicted mistakes.

2. The Vikings still were in position to ultimately win the game until the refs intentionally STOLE that opportunity.

This is an incredibly damaging loss. The schedule offers no favors. Jobs may be on the line this season. But the league just rigs an outcome and shuffles along to the next one. Fuck this fucking league and everyone responsible for what it has become. 

The only solace is that week 1 was filled with a lot of kooky outcomes, and a lot of teams sit 0-1 that won't have bad seasons. Although I wouldn't mind Green Bay losing 38-3 every week. 

Hopefully the Vikings worked out some of the kinks. At times the defense looked very strong and dynamic. Kirk played a great game considering the level of blocking he got. Our special teams looked good. Had we been allowed to pull out this win the team would have been laudable for their grit. 

Instead we sit here 0-1 because we got fucking robbed by the officials in the most crucial moment.