DERELICTION OF DUTY

LIONS 34

VIKINGS 23

The Vikings had a chance to clinch the NFC North title on Sunday in Detroit. Justin Jefferson set a Vikings franchise record with 223 receiving yards, and Kirk Cousins went 31 of 41 with 425 yards, 2 touchdowns and zero picks.

And yet, despite these stellar performances the Vikings flew home the loser, and have to wait another week to sew up the north. 

Why? Because their now last ranked defense didn't give them a chance. And this half of the football team is now a crisis situation that threatens to destroy the entire team's chances in the playoffs.

I felt going in that this was probably the toughest game left on the schedule. And it only got tougher when the Vikings deactivated Christian Darrisaw, Garrett Bradbury and Harrison Smith. Plus, the Lions have been improving lately and are basically in a win out or die situation, so they were certain to be the more desperate team. And division road games are always tough.

The Vikings spent the first half causing self-inflicted wounds that accounted for nearly every play that helped Detroit out. 

On our first drive KOC gambled by going for a 4th and 1 up near midfield. Nothing wrong with being a little aggressive early, but the play call was a moronic shotgun handoff to Cook, who got stuffed. How is THAT the call there, with 2 starting linemen out? 

That blunder quickly cost us, as we let Jameson Williams get comically wide open on a deep TD pass from Jared Goff. And yes, that Williams is the player the Lions drafted after Kwesi traded with them in April, so that riled up the Kwesi haters. 

We did answer with a nice 65 yard drive that ended with Dalvin Cook breaking some ankles on a short TD dart. 

We stayed 7-7 til late in the 2nd. We punted but gave up a lengthy return, then on the first play of the drive Goff went deep to DJ Chark, who had burned the returning Cameron Dantzler, for a 48 yard TD. Just a classic blown coverage.

We looked primed to respond again with a terrific drive, mostly orchestrated through the air (our run game was terrible), that got us into a 1st and goal at the 3. But then came the biggest single play of the game. Cook took a handoff, then just stood there in the backfield and let a gang of Lions crash into him and knock the ball loose. The Lions nearly turned this into a score of their own before halftime, but missed a field goal. Still, this clumsy, stupid play cost us dearly. I guess it was supposed to be a fake run and a pass, but why fuck around like that? And Cook still needs to be smarter than that and hold on to the fucking football. Even just a field goal there would have been a huge help later on. 

So, on came the 3rd quarter, our weekly nightmare. We of course went 3 and out to start. We actually looked to have a 3 and out of our own but Dan Campbell called for a fake punt on his own 26. We were completely unprepared, and allowed not just a conversion but a momentum seizing 42 yard gain. A short time later Goff threw a wide open TD and the Lions had a 21-7 lead.

Angry Kirk was activated after a sack began the next drive. He then threw for 21 to Hockenson and 34 to Jefferson. We bogged down just outside the redzone but we went for a 4th down and Kirk tossed a terrific pass to Thielen, who scooted into the endzone. 

We went for 2, which I was fine with. Look, Greg Joseph misses PATs all the time. I just hated the play call, a WR screen to Thielen in a crowd. Adam was tackled well short. Still, it was a one score game nearing 4th quarter time. 

But our defense....

We went right back to the same garbage defense with the zero pressures and zero covers. In 10 plays the Lions got back in the endzone and re-established a 2 score lead.

Kirk immediately went deep to Jefferson for 42. We got into the redzone but then the pass protection broke down. Kirk got sacked and had to hurry a couple incomplete throws. It was 4th and 17, and we pretty much had to settle for a field goal, even though that only cut the lead to 12. 

But if our defense could just give us a shot. I mean, we were down 17 in Buffalo. It's possible. 

Not today. The defense just never gave us any momentum. They let Goff lead a clock bleeding drive of over 6 minutes, including a couple of daggering 3rd down conversions to wide open receivers. By the time we mericifully forced a field goal barely 4 minutes remained and we were down 15 again. 

Our offense sure didn't quit. Kirk hit JJ deep again, on a play that had it not been blown dead might have been a touchdown. We certainly could have used those extra seconds. Still, Kirk fired a TD to Osborn a few plays later. 

KOC went for the onside kick. I agreed. Odds are long but the odds of our defense stopping Detroit and quickly were longer. We didn't get it, and we also couldn't stop the Lions in time. We even let them convert on a 3rd down throw to their fucking tackle, a final embarrassment for a defensive unit that just never let Kirk Cousins have a shot to pull off another 4th quarter comeback.

Big picture this loss isn't THAT damaging. It made catching Philadelphia basically impossible and the 49ers won so that 2 seed is definitely in some jeopardy. But it's obvious that the Vikings prioritized the long term in resting some guys today. Detroit was playing for their season and all day felt like the more determined team.

But this defense is now a full blown crisis. And the defensive coordinator is to blame. Ed Donatell has been a terrible hire, which on paper made sense initially but has proven to be a mistake. The man simply will not make any adjustments. We are 13 weeks into this thing and week after week we keep seeing this defense not try to pressure the quarterback and not try to cover receivers. In most of these games where we have had to win close late, the reason it has been close was because the defense let it be. And sometimes we get an opportune turnover. 

It's not like the defense being bad is some secret. But in this game the defense did NOTHING to help. No sacks, no turnovers, nothing. Goff missed a throw here or there, and there were a couple drops. That's it. 

Donatell will not change anything. He has a defense full of quality veteran players who are being sabotaged. It's pretty clear now that all of those clutch defensive plays this year are due to talented players making plays in SPITE of the playcalling. He has taken Danielle Hunter and rendered him a non-factor more consistently than any opposing coach ever could. There is no way players like Hunter, Kendricks, Peterson, et al can possibly not see this whole approach as doomed to fail. When does this stuff go public? 

This will unquestionably be the worst Vikings defense to ever reach the playoffs. Yes, even worse than 2000, the team that got 41-donut dropped on them. But Donatell will do nothing. At this point I have to just conclude that he does not care, that he is just one of those older coaches who took on a late career gig to cash a few more paychecks before retirement. 

Ed Donatell should be fired, but that is a fantasy. No rookie head coach is going to fire a veteran coordinator at this point in a season. But we have a team that is capable of making a playoff run and that team is going to be ruined by a useless old coach who doesn't even care what happens, because he can go right from his NFL paycheck to a social security one.