Off The Mat

VIKINGS 21

COLTS 13

I'm not gonna lie. Things were looking pretty bleak. 

Coming off two frustrating losses, the Vikings went out there on Sunday night and proceeded to play another stumbling, bumbling first half against the Colts. 

They only trailed 7-0 due to the defense having a big bounceback game. But there were points left out there on nearly every drive. The Vikings appeared to be proving themselves an unserious team.

But hey...we've been here before, right? Just two years ago, we played a bad first half against the Colts...so bad that it took a historic comeback to win. What's a measly 7 points compared to that? 

But anyway, that first half. The Colts botched a handoff on their opening drive, giving us the ball. And the Vikings opening drive in response looked good. The ball was spread around to 5 different receivers, including TJ Hockenson in his season debut, and they methodically drove into the redzone. But then Sam Darnold made one of his worst decisions of the year, throwing to a wide open player in the endzone. That player plays for Indianapolis, and the drive was done.

The Vikings continued to move the ball effectively in the first half but kept coming up short. Two drives ended in the first 2 missed field goals of Will Reichard's career, one a long try and the other a short kick clanked off the upright. (We found out later Reichard had been hurt during the week)

Another drive was thwarted by the second awful missed call on a Darnold hit in 2 weeks. Right after a nifty Jefferson throwback pass got the Vikings across midfield, Garrett Bradbury was bowled over, and Darnold took a wicked clothesline hit and dropped the ball. It was picked up and run back for a Colts TD, but we saw the flag dropped, so of course, the TD would be called back. But then the flag was inexplicably picked up with no explanation. Other than, apparently, in a league where QBs (and especially their heads) are protected, Sam Darnold is exempt from such protections.

The awful call and the squandered scoring opportunities were overshadowing the strong performance by the defense. The Colts missed a 50+ field goal, and that was their only scoring chance on offense in the half. Joe Flacco wasn't  being put on the ground, but was being pressured into inaccuracy, and the Colts run game was being halted.

I don't know what was said or done at halftime, but in the 3rd quarter, we saw a whole new Sam Darnold. He came out slinging, making quick, smart decisions all over the place. 

Drive 1 ended with a fantastic catch in the back of the endzone by Jordan Addison. 

Drive 2 was an 80-yard march, highlighted by a pinpoint perfect deep shot down the sideline to Justin Jefferson, and capped by a TD pass to Jalen Nailor. 

When the next Colts drive was done in by a Byron Murphy pick, it looked like the game was all but over.

But man, that Sam Darnold rollercoaster is hard to escape, and on the first play after Murphy's pick, Darnold gave it right back, throwing into triple coverage. The return had the Colts immediately in field goal range, and the defense made sure that was all they got with a 3 and out.

The Vikings got the ball back and were bleeding some clock, with some strong running by Cam Akers, but then nearing field goal range again, Darnold took one of those terrible drive-killing sacks and they had to punt. 

Again the resurgent defense stood tall. The Colts picked up a couple first down, but then were stymied on downs with a couple of clutch pass breakups.

Finally the Vikings stopped screwing around, and delivered another one of those game sealing drives. They chewed clock, and Darnold hit the one throw he really needed, a TD toss to Josh Oliver for the clinching score.

And, hey, we got to pump up our sack numbers with a couple of late takedowns of Flacco. 

So, it wasn't pretty, but it was a badly needed win to stop the collapse talk. 

Most encouraging was the defense returning to early season form. Yeah it wasn't elite competition, but this level of defensive effort will help the Vikings stack some wins again.

The Darnold rollercoaster is just something we gotta live with. This was a very Nick Mullens statline game, with almost 300 yards but multiple picks. But when he is quick with his decisions, he can be great, and he has shown resilience this year during games.

The win puts the Vikings back ahead of Green Bay, and at least keeps us a game back of the Lions. Plus we are a couple of games clear in the wild card standings. One win makes a huge difference in another area. The trade deadline is this week, and while I don't think the Vikings will make any big moves, I could see them making a small addition or two. Might as well. If this defense is on its game, the Vikings can play with anybody.