A GROTESQUE DEBACLE

COWBOYS 40

VIKINGS 3

I still can't believe that score. I'm not sure I have been so completely stunned by the final score of a Vikings game since 41-donut. Nobody saw this coming. We have played really close games the last 3 years against Dallas. This wasn't even remotely close. It was one of the most top to bottom terrible performances the Vikings have ever given.

Was it a hangover from the emotional Buffalo win? Who knows. But right off the bat things went sideways. 

On our third play of the game, Kirk Cousins got strip sacked. Dallas pounced, and only got a field goal. We responded with a nice drive deep into the redzone, but TJ Hockenson dropped a perfect pass in the endzone and we had to settle for 3 as well. No one would have imagined that would be our last score of the day.

From this point on it was just complete domination by Dallas on both sides of the ball. They went right down the field to go up 10-3. And they scored on their next 5 drives too. It was just non-competitive bullshit.

At 10-3 you're not giving up, but then Kirk gets sacked and we punt. 

At 13-3 you're not giving up, but we go 3 and out. 

Once we let Tony Pollard take a simple pass and go untouched 30 yards for a TD and a 20-3 score you feel like the sky might be falling.

After a futile try at a 2 minute drill Dallas got another drive and another score. Dak Prescott connected with Ceedee Lamb on a toe tap catch to set up Brett Maher, who hit a 60 yard field goal that was wiped off when the replay buzzed in. Replay showed it wasn't a catch, but they upheld it anyway. Then Maher drilled the kick again. I mean, if you didn't know by now that this was not our day this sealed it.

Any hope that there could be some 4th quarter magic today was destroyed on the 1st drive of the 2nd half. We actually got Dallas into a rare 3rd and long. So you think maybe if we get the ball back we can go get back in the game and at least make it a game. Nope. Prescott got out of the pocket and lofted a pass downfield to Pollard, who had easily torched Jordan Hicks and continued on untouched for a 68 yard touchdown that ended the competitive phase of the game and made it a 30-3 laugher.

Even with this Vikings team that pulled off a 17 point road comeback last week, and has made other 2nd half rallies this season...come on, at 30-3 you knew it was game over. 

Dallas tacked on another 10 points to make it the worst home loss for the Vikings since 1963. 1963! And we came in 8-1.

Kevin O'Connell for some reason left Kirk out there into the 4th quarter, but he was finally pulled for Nick Mullens late. The disaster ended Kirk's TD pass streak at 39. Justin Jefferson caught just 3 passes, hurting his chances at getting to 2,000 yards, and probably ending whatever chances he had at an MVP. 

The Kirk haters roared back after 2 months of winning. But my god, Kirk had NO chance at all in this game. We lost Christian Darrisaw to a concussion for a 2nd straight game, but even before that the Dallas pass rush was obliterating our front. Kirk took a career high 7 sacks, and never had a clean pocket to work in. 

On defense the story was up front too. Our run D, which has been a paper tiger all year, was finally punished by a team that didn't go away from the ground game. Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott had gaping holes all day. Prescott was able to easily run on us a few times. We kept letting them have easy 3rd and shorts, so we couldn't get off the field. It was disgusting.

I certainly hope this game doesn't become the template for how to beat us. Most teams do not have the personnel of Dallas (how did they lose to the Packers?) but you can bet other teams will try to gash us the same way.

I have no idea what this gameplan was. It's the first time all year I have felt a KOC gameplan was poor. Green Bay ran all over Dallas, but when this game was still in doubt in the first half we kept forcing the pass, even with Kirk getting bombarded. Dalvin Cook actually had a decent statistical game but we kept going away from him. And of course by the time the score got out of hand it had to be pass first. 

The defense was a little shorthanded without Tomlinson, Dantzler, and Evans. Andrew Booth Jr. had a terrible game. But they played passively all game. They put on a deplorable display of tackling, giving extra yards on nearly every play. No sacks, no turnovers. If Dallas had wanted to, you know they could have dropped 50 without breaking a sweat. 

It was a disgusting football game. One of the worst games I have ever seen, and hopefully this will stand as the worst game Kevin O'Connell ever has. There is absolutely nothing positive to take away from this game. 

But at least it's just 1 game. Rough as it is to lose in this fashion, it counts the same as a close loss, and realistically we were never going 16-1. We are still in firm control of the NFC North, and are in the driver's seat for a 2 seed. The chances of snagging that top seed took a big hit today, but this team is still in a great spot. I hate that this kind of loss will embolden the haters, the "Vikings are frauds" crowd, and dampen some of the enthusiasm that you get from 7 wins in a row and one of the great wins of all time last week.

And I am not one of those people who believes in "good" losses. This was a bad loss, and a bad day in a good season. How this team responds to this punch in the mouth will determine if this can still be a great season.