THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED

LIONS 29

VIKINGS 27

20 years ago almost to the day, Dennis Green took a 5-7 Vikings team, clinging to playoff hopes, into Detroit to face a winless Lions team. And lost. And that was the death nail for Green's Vikings career. He was gone just a few weeks later. 

Today, Mike Zimmer took a 5-6 Vikings team, clinging to playoff hopes, into Detroit to face a winless Lions team. And lost. 

Will the rest of this play out the same? Will Mike Zimmer be a former coach soon? I don't know how you can see any other scenario playing out now. Not after the worst, most embarrassing, most thoroughly inexcusable loss of Zimmer's coaching career. This game made me fucking sick.

Technically the game was lost at the last moment. But no, this game was lost in the first half. We all saw it on those early drives. It was blatantly apparent right away that the offensive gameplan was the same ultra conservative, vanilla bullshit that they ran out there in the previous Detroit game. No attempt to go after a mediocre defense's holes. We had good field position a few times, but stalled in field goal range and settled for threes.

You knew this would cost us, and it quickly did. The 2nd quarter was a fiasco.

After the 2nd field goal, we let Jared Goff go down the field on us in 5 plays to take the lead. After an OL breakdown led to a Kirk fumble that the Lions recovered, they needed just 3 plays for a 2nd touchdown. This was quickly getting out of hand.

We go 4 and out. They drive to a field goal.

We get stuck trying a 4th and 10 just out of field goal range, which we don't convert, leaving the Lions just enough time to tack on another field goal. 

That 20-6 halftime deficit was even more repugnant than it looked. What made it worse was that the team seemed to have some quit in them as things turned south.

Halftime adjustments were made though and we slowly began a comeback. We get a couple quick stops on defense. We get a field goal. Then we finally get in the endzone on a Mattison run. 

Then, even though there was still almost 25 minutes of game left, Zimmer started to chase points. Klint Kubiak called a stupid draw to Nwangwu that got stuffed, so we stayed down 5. 

Detroit tacked on a field goal, but our offense had awoken from its stupor and found paydirt again the next series on a nifty diving catch in the endzone by KJ Osborn. But again we run a crummy 2 point play and Mattison gets stuffed and we're still down.

The Lions didn't get to be 0-10-1 without their own share of idiocy, and they gave us a gift with barely 4 minutes to play, going for a 4th and 1 at their own 28. Blake Lynch nailed Goff and got the strip sack and we were instantly in prime position to escape disaster.

Too much time remained and we were too close to the goal line to burn all the time off and have Greg Joseph walk it off like against Green Bay. But we did chop some of that time away, and just after the 2 minute warming Kirk tossed it to a wide open JJ to take the lead. We did miss on another 2 but at that point a TD beats us regardless of a 4 or 6 point lead.

All that was left to escape one of the most embarrassing losses ever was to not let Jared Goff, who had only led Detroit to 3 second half points, drive 75 yards on us with less than 2 minutes left and no timeouts.

And Mike Zimmer, with his career likely hanging in the balance, let it happen.

We did have a couple of near miss interceptions, but other than that we offered no resistance. No attempts at a pass rush. Gave up a couple big plays. Let guys get out of bounds when they wanted to.

It all came down to one last play from the 11. Zimmer even called timeout just before so he could make absolutely certain that the defensive call was the exact one he wanted. And apparently he wanted our corners to offer a huge cushion, and to not rush Goff. It was nothing but a simple pitch and catch, as Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown in the endzone and the Lions sideline erupted in celebration.

And the Vikings left the field, their season in shambles, the laughingstocks of the NFL.

Mike Zimmer just can't get it done anymore. Yes, players were out (Kendricks, Barr, Pat P, Cook, Darrisaw, plus obviously Hunter and Griffen, and today we also lost Thielen early), but I don't care. If you need a full roster to beat the Lions then what is the fucking point? 

Zimmer's defense cannot lead this team. But whether it is he  or Klint Kubiak making the decisions, the offense is not being allowed to carry the team. In the 2nd half, when Kubiak's hand was forced, this offense scored a lot of points. Why is the goal never to take advantage of how much skill talent we have? 

The squandering of talent on this team has become too much. Sure the Vikings have been hit with a lot of personnel losses during the year, but a 5-7 record is completely ridiculous. Sure, 11 of the games have been decided by 1 score, so they could really all go either way, but even letting some of these games BE close is an indictment of this coaching staff.

And what in god's name was the thought process behind what they did with the OL today? With Darrisaw out, you figured Rashod Hill was the obvious fill-in. But instead the decision was made to shift THREE line spots. Mason Cole, who had been a bit of an improvement at center over Garrett Bradbury, was shifted to RG, with Bradbury back at center. And Oli Udoh....OLI UDOH...was put over at left tackle, a position he had NEVER played in the NFL. Naturally this went terribly, with Kirk getting hit for multiple sacks, and Udoh committing multiple penalties as usual. Anybody involved with this decision should be fired. 

The season is over. Oh sure, mathematically the Vikings will be alive for probably a few more weeks, but after blowing this game there is no way you can take this team seriously anymore. And you certainly can't believe they will win 3 or 4 more games and at least make week 18 relevant.

This was rock bottom. A disgusting, unacceptable loss to a team you could not lose to. As embarrassing a loss as any I have seen in 35 years as a Vikings fan. Huge changes are on the horizon.