AULD LANG SIGH

PACKERS 33

VIKINGS 10

On Sunday afternoon, the woebegone Vikings caught a rare break. The Steelers pulled out a win up in Seattle. That result gave the Vikings back control of their playoff destiny. 

And then the Vikings took this reprieve and handed it right back in a disgusting, insulting, shameful, and pretty much season ending blowout loss at home to the rival Packers in front of a national TV audience. One of the very worst performances I have ever witnessed. And I've been watching the Vikings since 1987. It was grotesque on an epic level.

After Nick Mullens threw away the game last week, the decision was made to switch to rookie Jaren Hall for this game. I figured why not. How much worse can it be? I forgot that for the 2023 Vikings it can always be worse. 

The first half of this game was a complete fiasco. The Vikings defense, which is somehow largely the same unit that spent about 2 months playing at a pretty high level, continued the collapse that began in the 2nd half of the Cincinnati game. They were Swiss cheese in this game too, getting zero pressure on Jordan Love, covering zero receivers, not tackling.

What could Hall do? Not a damn thing. It was very clear very fast that he was not ready, that the moment was too big for him. Many fans built up that one nice drive he had in the Falcons game 2 months ago into something grand, but the pressure was way bigger here. Hall threw a pick to set up a short field Packers TD. He took a terrible strip sack that led to another TD. Hall managed to hit a couple downfield passes to set up a long Greg Joseph field goal, but that was literally it. 

It was 23-3 at the half, and the only reason the score wasn't way worse was because Love missed a couple wide open throws in scoring range. 

So KOC made the switch back to Mullens. It should have happened sooner. Yeah, Mullens was a turnover machine last week but at least he moved the chains. It was obvious very quickly that we needed to score a lot, and that Hall couldn't do that. 

Mullens did provide a little spark to start the 2nd half, leading a drive into the redzone. But that brief spark dissipated quickly when we turned it over on downs. Our hapless defense let the Packers drive 90 yards for another TD and a humiliating 30-3 lead.

The Vikings managed a TD after Najee Thompson recovered a muffed punt and Mullens hit Johnny Mundt for the score. But then the Packers easily drove for another score, this time a field goal. Those last 2 scoring drives alone took up about 16 minutes. The defense just gave zero chance.

And zero effort. Look, it can be a slippery slope to start accusing professional athletes of quitting. But these motherfuckers quit. The whole team, coaches and players alike, gave zero effort to this game. Nobody showed any energy, any desire, or any will. The defense passively took their beating. The offensive line didn't block anybody (what has happened to Christian Darrisaw?). The coaches did nothing to adapt or adjust. Once again KOC puts a QB out there with some mobility then offers no chances for them to use it. The run game seemed effective at times but was quickly abandoned. 

Teams that are well coached do not put forth efforts like this in spots like this. This performance will linger through the offseason, and yeah, KOC may enter 2024 with some questions about his job status. His team quit. They did. 

What an insult to the fans. The Vikings finished 2-6 at home, a grotesque number that has only been worse once in franchise history. In back to back weeks they let the Lions come in here and take the division and now let the #1 rival come here and blow us out and take our playoff spot. This is completely unacceptable.

This loss did not eliminate the Vikings, but they need way too much to go right next week to have any hope left. It's over. They will miss the playoffs. 

This season from hell was never going to let it happen. But this was different. For 15 games, the Vikings have been a hard luck case, and their absurd misfortune elicited sympathy. Not this time. This loss had nothing to do with a bad break or a bad call or an injury. This was a choice, a choice to perform this wretchedly on a huge stage, and let your rival basically end your season. 

The Minnesota Vikings disgraced themselves and their fans in this game. They got exactly what they fucking deserved.