As a life-long Vikings fan, I had little faith in the “win-and-in” situation the Vikings found themselves in coming into Sunday afternoon’s game against the Chicago Bears … I’ve seen it happen all too often, so it wasn’t much of a surprise to have it happen yet again. The Vikings came into the game looking less-than-convinced, and the peformance on the field was less-than-convincing. The final score of 24-10 was just about right, although shading to flatter the Vikings a tiny bit more than they deserved. Even had they somehow managed to pull out a win late against Chicago’s backups, they didn’t look like they’d be more than one-and-done in the wildcard round anyway.
Lessons learned? Better offensive line players are required to get any significant benefit out of an $84 million quarterback, and you can never have too many good cornerbacks (but that’s always true in today’s NFL). Despite the disappointing finish, I don’t expect any significant changes in the front office, but I do expect a renewed emphasis on the offensive line during free agency and the draft. Despite Sunday’s underwhelming effort, this is still a team that can go deep in the playoffs if they fix the OL, and maintain the depth on defence.
The Daily Norseman‘s Ted Glover wraps up the disappointing end to a season that started with Superbowl aspirations with his final Stock Market Report for 2018:
>Sort of Buy: The penalty on Thielen in the first half. Yes, Thielen got mugged, but it should have been pass interference, and not a facemask. It was a difference of almost 20 yards of field position, and might have been the difference between a field goal and a touchdown. Maybe.
Sell: The BS roughing the passer penalty on Stephen Weatherly. It was a terrible call, it gave the Bears a first down instead of making it fourth down, and Chicago took advantage and went down and scored a TD. The Vikings got a makeup roughing the passer call later that allowed them to go down and score a TD, but the call on Weatherly was just a back breaker, and really killed some momentum the Vikings defense had built.
Buy: Dalvin Cook was short on the third down play on the goal line. On the Vikings lone touchdown drive, Dalvin Cook took the ball and went out of bounds right at the first down marker. I thought it was close to a first down, but with all the different camera angles I don’t think you could definitively say he made the stick, though. It was close, and the Vikings set up to go for it on fourth and inches inside the Bears 10.
Sell: Zimmer throwing the challenge flag. So the Vikes rush to the line of scrimmage, and I said to myself ‘hey, just sneak over the left guard, there’s a huge gap in the Bears d-line right there.’ Cousins does just that, gets two yards, and the Vikes have a first and goal inside the five, boom shaka laka. Only…Mike Zimmer threw the red flag challenging the spot of the ball, nullifying the Cousins first down sneak. Of course, the ruling was upheld, the Vikings lost a first down, and I half expected Cook to get stuffed on fourth down. Just an idiotic challenge and complete lack of awareness.
Buy: There needs to be changes in 2019. Something isn’t right with this team, and I don’t know what it is. There was sideline sniping more than once, and they just never seemed to gel as a team. People think team chemistry can just magically happen, but it doesn’t. It takes work, and the chemistry the 2017 team had was not present in the 2018 team.
Sell: I know what those changes are. But I’m not in the locker room, so only the members of the Vikings organization can address the issue. It needs to be addressed, though, or we’ll see another 8-8 season or worse next year.
So, how was the Vikings afternoon, and season in a nutshell? This kinda sums it up to me:
This looks like a fun chat pic.twitter.com/dEe1lJkUmr
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) December 30, 2018
Welcome to the long, cold off-season. I shouldn’t be numb to this feeling, because I go all the way back to 1975 and the Dallas Hail Mary for my Vikings heartbreak, but here we are.
Damn it.
