Two very good teams met in Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon, and the outcome was in doubt until the final minutes. Both teams’ defences held up very well, and both teams’ offences were lacking, so the outcome depended on penalties and luck. The officiating squad didn’t throw a lot of penalty flags (including some that were blatant, yet un-noticed), so the game came down to luck. The Vikings were in luck, but it was all bad.

Sam Bradford’s knee is still not back to normal, so Case Keenum got the start again for the third straight game. Keenum is a very good backup quarterback, but he tends to be a one-read player so he sometimes misses big opportunities because he’s watching the receiver he’s already decided to go to and doesn’t see a better chance elsewhere on the field. Against Tampa Bay, that didn’t matter, but against Pittsburgh and on Sunday against Detroit, it mattered a lot.

The Vikings defence played (mostly) lights-out against the Lions. Danielle Hunter started the game off with a bang, notching his first sack of the season on the opening play, and he got another sack during the game. Everson Griffin chipped in with a sack of his own and two tackles for loss. Linval Joseph also got a sack, and linebacker Eric Kendricks got two. On the other hand, it seemed like everyone in purple had a chance for an interception but none of them could hang on to the ball, and there were periods in the game where Lions ball carriers appeared to be coated in Teflon and the Vikings just couldn’t wrap them up on the tackle.

Injuries are always at least a background concern for NFL teams, and the Lions came in to Minneapolis with a long list of injured players, but the worst injury of the day was on a non-contact run by Vikings rookie sensation Dalvin Cook, who may have torn his ACL while trying to make a cut (he fumbled the ball at that point, but I’m certainly not going to hold it against him under the circumstances). He’ll have an MRI on Monday which will clarify the extent of his injury. Sadly, Eric Thompson’s tweet is still as appropriate as ever:

Update: Yes, coach Zimmer confirms that it’s an ACL tear and Cook is going to be put on the injured reserve, ending his season.

At the Daily Norseman, Ted Glover starts off his Stock Market Report with a nod to Mr. Murphy:

In a way, there’s almost a sad comfort in being a Vikings fan. At some point, you know the inevitable gut punch is going to come, like an old friend who’s been away from home for awhile. You begin to miss your friend, and think fondly of your friendship. And just when you think that maybe, just maybe, your buddy has left for greener pastures, he comes knocking. Whether it’s a Hail Mary throw, a mind bogglingly dumb penalty, a field goal that goes wide left at the most inopportune time, or one of 312 knee injuries, he’s there, knocking on your door with a smile and a six pack. Just like he has been for the past 57 years.

After handing out the names for blue chippers, solid investments, and junk bonds, he gets down to the buy/sell recommendations:

Buy: The Vikings will have a legitimate quarterback debate when both Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford are healthy. With Bradford’s lingering knee injury, and Bridgewater poised to return from a knee injury, it feels like there will be a lot of decisions that will have to be made, long term, regarding the quarterback position for the Vikings. Possibly in 2017, and definitely after the season is over. I’m not going to use this space here to debate it, but like Winter, it’s coming.

Sell: Case Keenum will be part of that debate. After last week, there was some talk starting to circulate that Keenum might be an option at QB for the Vikings. He isn’t. If they want to sign him to be the backup again, that’s fine. But if folks think he’s the answer, I shudder to think what the question might be.

Buy: Case Keenum is a decent backup quarterback. It’s important to remember he isn’t the starter, though, and that’s an important distinction. He wasn’t brought in here to be ‘the guy’, he was brought in here to play in case the ‘the guy’ got hurt. Keenum can hold down the spot and do okay for a few games if the rest of the offense is doing their job, and we saw that last week against the Buccaneers. But if it falls on him to shoulder the offensive load, he simply can’t.

Sell: The Vikings will be competitive with Keenum at the helm for an extended time. I gave him the benefit of the doubt after the Steelers game, because I still maintain he was pressed in to duty and the game plan wasn’t an optimal one for him. But after today, Keenum is what he is: a guy that can do okay for a little bit, but gets exposed due to his limitations after 2-3 games. And if you absolutely, positively, need a drive to win a game … I don’t think Keenum can do it on a regular basis.

Buy: 2-2 isn’t the end of the world, and 3-2 will be okay. All things considered, 2-2 isn’t the end of the world. This is a loss that could come back to haunt the Vikings at the end of the year if we have to get into tiebreakers and head to head matchups, but there’s still a lot of football to play, and anything can happen. The Vikings play a bad Bears team next, with a kid that’s never taken a snap in the NFL running the show for them. The Vikings defense should eat next week. A win next week will give the Vikings some momentum heading into the packers game.

Sell: 2-3 Might be time to panic. But that team is the Bears, in Soldier Field, for a Monday Night tilt. Soldier Field and prime time have been Gordian knots the Vikings have been largely unable to untie separately in recent years. Put them together, with Mitch Trubisky getting his first career start for the Bears, and this has the makings of a classic Vikings sack punch game. The positive side of me says that with Latavius Murray getting all the first team reps this coming week, he’ll start rounding in to shape, and hopefully Sam Bradford will be back. The pessimist in me says lol man Keenum starts, Murray sucks, and Trubisky begins his Hall of Fame career Monday night. And then 2-3 can become 2-4, and then yeah, it is time to panic.

At purplePTSD, Joe Johnson takes the game in a mature, sensible, not-at-all dramatic way:

… the Vikings still had every chance to win this game. They drove to the five-yard line after also getting close enough to scoring for Kai Forbath to attempt a 39 yard field goal. Right after Fox put up a graphic showing that Forbath was tied for the best current record with 23 field goals made in a row, so you knew what was about to happen as Forbath’s kick was “pulled” right and hit the upright. Any momentum the Vikings had almost died on that play as did the hope in my Dad’s (who I watch every game with) soul as he literally reacted: “YEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHNOOOOOOOOOOOO! COME ON!”. That almost made the loss worth it.

But nothing could really make this loss worth it. Especially considering that the Vikes have lost their rookie running back in Week F’ing 4 of the season. Despite that loss, though, the Vikings ended up on the five-yard line on third-and-goal, with a chance to tie the game. In a play that should really put offensive line coach Tony Sparano on the hot seat, the Vikes right tackle Mike Remmers ended up double teaming the Lions DT instead of, you know, blocking the defensive end who literally just ran straight at/into Case Keenum and sacked him for a nine-yard loss. The Vikings went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 14-yard line and didn’t convert, as I heard from the front-yard as I left to smoke knowing that they wouldn’t pick that up. I wasn’t even a smoker before the game and I’m already a two-pack a day guy.

With a little over two minutes left on the clock the Lions ran it three times, forced the Vikes to give up their final two timeouts and the Vikings got the ball back in a classic two-minute drill situation. Without timeouts, the Lions were going to give up a ton of over the middle stuff, and the Vikes took advantage by throwing to Adam Thielen on first down. He caught the ball and… Yeah, you know what happened. That fumble sealed the game as the other three did but beyond that, they still had every chance to win this game (or at least tie it). Beyond the sack, the fumbles, the injuries, this team still was very much in this game. I planned on ranting about the lack of calls for defensive holding, but I know the response to that always is “Can’t win with a -3 turnover game/day!”, so… Actually, still. Those no-calls were garbage and the Lions knew who was officiating and took advantage, and that should NOT be an aspect to the game (especially a game as important as a divisional match-up) but it was and it almost universally and negativally impacted the Vikings. But, again, they had so many chances and this literally ended up feeling like a game that they handed to the Lions and that makes it so much worse. It also really makes me feel for Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, as he seems to be the most cursed coach in the history of the team. Since his arrival, he’s had to deal with more injuries/controversies than any coach in Vikes history and it’s got to be wearing on him. It’s the NFL and every team deals with injuries, but this is ridiculous. Even had we won it would’ve been a dark day, with Cook being done for the year (minimum) and it’s one of those moments that you really question whether or not being a fan (or writer/fan) is even worth it.