It’s Déjà vu All (Turn)Over, Again—Vikes Gag in Denver
Joe Oberle
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Vikings Territory Breakdown
We’ve seen this before: the Vikings lose to a beatable team due to turnovers (including another one on their first drive). Even head coach agreed and said we had already learned this lesson before. But we were thinking that the Josh Dobbs Affect would erase that kind of thing. But the turnovers reared their ugly head and may have cost the Vikings a chance to win the NFC North Division in back-to-back seasons.
The defense once again played well enough for the Vikings to win. But even they got tuckered out in the mile high altitude and let the Broncos stampede down the field and score their only touchdown of the game in the final minutes. And the Vikings offense, with plenty of time to get in position for a game-winning field goal, could not produce. The offensive line failed Dobbs, and the astronaut quarterback looked absolutely terrestrial.
Losing the turnover battle 3-0 and refusing to put away a team and allow them to make a mad dash to victory is not how you win games in the NFL. But The Vikings, who had won five in a row to resurrect their season, did exactly that. And suddenly the Rocket Man, who thrilled us the past two weeks with his improbable heroics (including two more great touchdowns in this game) seems as mortal as his predecessor behind a subpar-performance by the offensive line.
Which all lead to several conundrums: Josh, Kirk—or even Jaren; Mattison or Chandler; Wild card or tank; activate or rest JJ; and what happens the rest of the season with this team.
The fellas at the Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast (Joe Oberle, senior writer at vikingsterritory and purplePTSD and Mark Craig, NFL and Vikings writer for the Star Tribune and startribune.com) are on hand to consider all of them. Tune in and check it out.
Listen to Vikings Territory Breakdown here or on you favorite podcast network.
