Fasten Your Seat Belts for Vikings Last 6 Games
Ameer Eldomiatti
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If Vikings fans want to rely on anything they’ve witnessed throughout the first eleven games of this season to look for in the final six games, they should look towards the great wordsmith Samuel L. Jackson: “Hold onto your butts.”
I said last week that this Vikings season and the overall experience of Vikings fandom is like riding a roller coaster, but there are probably other more fitting Valleyfair rides to describe what this season for Vikings faithful has been like. It’s like turning the long corner past the fence looking out onto the Valleyfair parking lot, heading towards the front of the line for Steel Venom. You know it’s going to be a crazy topsy turvy ride.
The Vikings beat their division and conference-leading rivals, and then all hell broke loose again, losing two defensive starters in a 24-hour span. And those losses, combined with the offense reverting to their conservative ways, cost them in a pivotal game yesterday against the 49ers.
I won’t go too much into depth about Sunday’s debacle, but two particular sequences decided the game.
The Vikings received the ball on a punt in the 2nd quarter up seven points, and on the first play of the drive, Cousins completed a sweep to Dalvin Cook for seven yards. However, instead of being aggressive like they had been early in the first quarter or in the prior two weeks, they ran the ball on the succeeding two plays and gained no yards, and were forced to punt.
The 49ers marched down the field on an eight-minute drive to tie the game shortly thereafter.
The Vikings then struggled in the second half due to their inability to stop the 49ers’ dangerous rushing attack while undermanned on the defensive line, as both Deebo Samuel and Elijah Mitchell lit them up.
A Cousins pick, his first on the road all season, didn’t help matters. They started becoming more aggressive again thanks to some creative plays and appeared to be coming back. Then the game turned on a deadly turnover.
The 49ers would score off the turnover, and the Vikings’ lack of aggression inside the redzone cost them.
Now, the Vikings really let one get away. This was the 10th of 11 games played this year decided by one possession, by far the most since at least 1999, and the Vikings have gone 4-6 in those one-score affairs. The only solace for the Vikings is that they should be able to win each of their next three games — a road game against the winless Lions, a home game on Thursday Night Football against the fading Steelers coming off of three straight losses, and a Monday Night game against the Bears. However, they haven’t done well in their wins over the Lions and Panthers. They shouldn’t overlook these opponents one bit, or else they could end up in deep trouble.
The Vikings also now find themselves even more undermanned heading into next week’s game against Detroit. It appears Cook will miss at least the next two games with his shoulder injury. Anthony Barr appeared to injure his hamstring in the second half. Dalvin Tomlinson is eligible to come off the COVID list, and Michael Pierce is eligible to come off of IR, but will they? And on Monday afternoon, the hits kept coming.
On paper, the next three games should be easy. However, every time this season that the Vikings appear to have gained momentum, they fall right back down to earth.
They haven’t been above .500 yet this year either, with win streaks no longer than two games. This will be their second matchup this year against the Lions sans Cook, and the last time they played Detroit without Cook, they struggled mightily offensively for most of the game and nearly lost.
I do hope that rising rookie Kene Nnangwu will be able to earn more snaps at running back after having another kick return for a touchdown on Sunday.
Alexander Mattison is capable and had two 100+ rushing games in Cook’s absences earlier this year. But in recent weeks, the entire running game has grown stagnant.
The Vikings will again be short-handed defensively. Although these games appear winnable in theory, nothing at this point should surprise anyone about this season. We shouldn’t be surprised if the Vikings respond and win three games in a row, nor should we be surprised if the Vikings fall victim to the Lions’ first win this season.
The enigma that this current Vikings should force you as the fans to expect the unexpected for the remainder of this wacky season.
Yes, the Vikings lost games they should have won. Yes, they won games they should have easily lost. They will continue to do the same things they have done the past several weeks. You should come to prepare for any pleasant tidings as well as expecting swirling gridiron storms.
They have supposedly three easy games to play but are continuously dealing with hardship and distractions. Will they find a way to earn their way into the playoffs, or will they wilt under pressure? We will just have to wait and see.
The Vikings will likely play their next two games without Cook and Petterson, though they already have practice of winning games without both of them.
The main hurdle is if they can find ways to finally hold onto a lead they have built, as they are the only team in the league to hold leads of seven points in every game they’ve played.
Will they perform these next three weeks as they have against the Lions and Panthers previously — or will they perform well? The main problem with this team is they can show in spurts that they are a good team, but they aren’t good enough quite plainly at other points when it’s most crucial to be so.
The one thing you should keep in mind these next couple of weeks is that you should absolutely expect the unexpected. What you think might happen might not. When you think it cannot get any more arduous, it might.
Just make sure your seat belts are fastened, and your butts are firmly planted in your proverbial seats because the season isn’t yet over, and the waters are always changing speed.
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