CRIMINAL COACHING MALPRACTICE

RAVENS 34

VIKINGS 31

OT

I have seen enough. It is time for the Minnesota Vikings to fire Mike Zimmer.

I hate it. It brings me zero joy to say this. But it is time. Today was inexcusable. As last week was inexcusable. As next week will probably be inexcusable if this madness is allowed to continue any longer. 

It makes no logical sense, but the only thing I can think that is going on any more is that either Zimmer, or Klint Kubiak, or both, are deliberately sabotaging this team and with it their own careers.

Today was like a bad rerun.

Faced with a tough road test against a good Ravens team, and Lamar Jackson, one of the trickier QBs to play, this was a scenario where we would finally learn if this coaching staff was willing to let this offense loose. Baltimore has a bad pass defense. Playing the ultra conservative game was not going to fly.

Stop me if you have heard this before, but the Vikings opening drive was really good. We found six when Kirk threw a deep ball dime to JJ. For the 7th time in 7 games we found the endzone on our first drive.

But we're on to that ruse, so the Vikings threw us off the scent on their 2nd drive. Dalvin.broke a long run, weaving through the Ravens secondary for 60+ yards. It took many cracks from the goal line to punch it in, including a 4th down DPI in the endzone, but Kirk finally snuck it in and we had a 14-3 lead.

So maybe the lessons had finally been learned. This offense was going to keep the pressure on, and utilize its many weapons to build on this lead throughout the remainder if the game.

God damn it. 

Those two touchdowns were it until late in the 4th quarter. The best we did in between was a measly 25 yard drive. We even managed to convert on a fake punt only to go 3 and out after the fake. It was the same old shit we have been seeing. Zero creativity. Zero downfield throwing. Redundant up the middle runs, even though our run game was ineffective all day. 

The sequence of events late in the 2nd quarter is where things began to get away from the Vikings. Cameron Bynum (starting for anti-vaxxer moron Harrison Smith) picked off Jackson in his own end, and ran it back to the Ravens 16. A golden opportunity to pad the lead, when you are also going to get the ball to start the 3rd.

We run it once, which is fine, but then Zimmer calls one of the most inexplicable timeouts ever. Then Kirk throws 2 incompletions and we kick a field goal, having taken about 20 seconds total off the clock.

Naturally we then let a til then contained Ravens offense get hot. Xavier Woods inexplicably lets a sure interception fall incomplete, then a couple plays later commits a very sloppy and amateurish DPI, setting up Baltimore for an easy score.

So, 17-10 at the half in a game you should have had a commanding lead.

The dark storm clouds seemed to part as soon as the second half kicked off, as Kene Nwangwu took the kickoff and sprinted 98 yards for our first kick return touchdown since Cordarrelle Patterson in 2016.

The good vibes didn't last, as the Ravens went to work on our fading defense. The time of possession really got ridiculous. They go on two drives totaling over 16 minutes, convert a couple 4th downs along the way, and get the game tied up. All we offered in resistance was the aforementioned fake punt that amounted to nothing.

After the game got tied up, maybe you're thinking these coaches might pull their heads out of their collective asses. Nah. Following the tying score, our response was a 3 and out, and a punt.

To the surprise of literally no one, the Ravens easily traveled the 60 yards necessary to take the lead. If you're scoring at home, 2nd half time of possession at this point was 20:41 to 4:92. Absurd.

But now, with literally no other choice, Kubiak decided to let Kirk cook, and as he has done in nearly every such spot this year, Kirk led a drive. He hit a big sideline throw to CJ Ham. Cook broke his 1st meaningful run since the 1st quarter. Kirk hit JJ on 4th down in the redzone to keep the game alive, then found Thielen in the endzone to tie the game. 

WHY DID YOU NOT CALL PLAYS LIKE THIS THE PREVIOUS THREE QUARTERS?

I was sure too much time was left for Lamar, but the gassed defense did muster enough to keep the Ravens out of field goal range and we went to overtime. 

 

Ravens win the toss and are moving, but in a tremendous individual play Anthony Barr leaped to deflect a pass, then caught the ball out of mid air. Improbably this team was presented with a gift, and a chance to pull a rabbit out of their hat and actually win this game they tried so hard to lose.

And what did the presumably ever so grateful Klint Kubiak dial up to go after this stunned Ravens squad? Two nothing runs, and a 3rd down straight dropback pass where Kirk had zero time to locate a receiver, and threw incomplete. Fuck you, Klint!

Well at this point this defense had nothing left. The Ravens easily rolled down the field, now only needing a field goal, and got into chip shot range for Justin Tucker's game winner.

FUCK YOU!

If insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, then Mike Zimmer is insane. Or Klint Kubiak is. Or both. I no longer care. 

We see in every game how this offense functions when it is not being orchestrated to fail. After 14-3 today zero effort was made to win this game on offense. Deliberately. It's more complicated than just flipping a switch and scoring touchdowns, but there is no middle ground. We either look like a machine, or go 3 and out. We are 8 games into this. I can no longer pretend that Kubiak is just learning his way. There is no excuse for an offense with this much talent to vanish so often.

And this ineptitude kills the defense too. You can't sustain drives for huge sections of games, that tires out your defense, all the more when having to chase Lamar Jackson around all day. This defense, playing 4 starters short, did all it could most of the day, and the offense just gave the game away. The coaches threw that effort away. They are throwing the season away.

Had the Vikings not thrown these last 2 wins away they would be sitting a game back of Green Bay right now, and would be firmly in a playoff spot at worst. Instead we sit behind the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers, two teams that do not have nearly the talent we do.

This is why the Mike Zimmer era is over, and must end. He has had a good run here, better than most will admit, and year after year I think he has squeezed just about every win from his teams as he can. Yes even last year.

No longer. Whether it is sabotage or stubbornness, he is costing this team wins. It's is criminal that this roster sits at 3-5.