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I don’t have much to say about last night’s “game”. The offense played worse than I thought they could possibly play, Darnold was off all night, not throwing to open receivers and missing wildly when he did throw. The defense kept the Vikings in it for a while, but couldn’t keep the ship from sinking by themselves. The Vikings were outcoached and outplayed. The kicker couldn’t even keep the kickoff between the sidelines.
All I can say is that they’d better play better than that next week, or that 14-3 record won’t mean jack. They’ll play the Rams in the wild card round, and if they’re going to play like they did last night, they might as well stay home. That’s all I got, I’m writing this as the game is winding down, and if I write any more, there will be a plethora of 4 letter words, and as tempting as that is, I think I’ll just go soak in the hot tub for a bit then go to bed.
The Vikings are in the playoffs, and if they don’t do whatever they did last night, they can still beat any team in the league. They have fewer than 7 days to turn it around, so they’d better get working on that. Dammit. SKOL!!!
Vikings News
Stats and figures from last night, if you care to look, but I wouldn’t, from Vikings.com.
NFL News
Your week 18 NFL scores and highlights, courtesy of ESPN.
Media Selection
Only thing I could find, no songs seemed appropriate. Could’ve gone with one of Chopin’s nocturnes, I supppose.
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You biches done biching about the Vikings?
Vikings suck….when does baseball season start?
So you happy about the beat down in Detroit?
Nope. After such a devastating loss, much bitching is required.
Jones activated? So if Sam gets hurt or looks like dogshit is he the backup?
Yes, activated.
Likely the third emergency QB.
Mullens is the back up.
Sam was pressured alot and his over throws sucked. I hear Rams D-line better than kitties. Not good.
Sam had time to throw and open receivers for the most part.
He had the ‘Yips’ though so he missed the receivers or didn’t throw the ball.
And it got worse as the game went on, Not sure how much of that was on the line. No more than usual I suspect.
A recap of the season and the game ahead…..
Won five in a row.
Then lost to the Lions and the Rams.
Won 9 in a row.
Lost to the Lions with a game against the Rams.
😳
The NFL just loves to humiliate the Vikings.
Just another Viking milestone record that no other NFL team can match.
Darnold and JJ both scored sub-50 PFF scores in the Lions game. Not going to win any games with those two playing like that.
Nowhere to go but up!
Biden on the way out the door…..
Pardons Hunter after saying he never would pardon him
Hands out medals to democrats
Commutes sentences of death row inmates
Bans oil drilling on the coasts
Is going to ban cigarettes apparently. (Never knew he had this authority)
Auctions off border wall parts
More money for Ukraine
We still have 12 days to go. What else will King Biden attempt to do?
Pardoning himself and the rest of his family and other Cabinet officials.
I suppose he can direct deposit himself a billion dollars into his bank account and then pardon himself for doing so.
He’s releasing the terrorists from Guantanamo Bay.
Worst part is, I don’t know if this sarcasm or not. yeesh.
It isn’t sarcasm. It’s the truth.
All of that is 100 percent true…except for the direct deposit part.
Forgot that one.
A question. Biden issues an Executive Oder on oil drilling. Can’t Trump just come in and write his own order cancelling Biden’s?
Don’t think so, not that it can’t be done. I’m more concerned about sniffers legacy.
God Bless him because he’s a good man, but Biden will go down as Carter ll.
That is Carter is a good man, Biden sure as hell isn’t.
Carter is getting way too much praise.
He actively lobbied against the US on desert storm.
Pardoned a child molester.
Supported Hamas over Israel.
Dude built some houses for the poor. Ok good for him. He did way more damage than he is getting credit for.
Carter was a good man and a bad president.
FJB is a bad man and a bad president.
He makes Carter look good in comparison.
You said it far better than I did. Thanks.
You inspired me.
You were the wind beneath my wings.
He referenced some old law when he did it. So Congress might have to get involved.
Too bad Trump doesn’t control the house and senate so he can fix that.
Oh wait………
Just validating why he was never the man for the job. Guess why no Dem will ever see it that way? #IdentityPolitics won’t allow it. I hadn’t heard the cigarettes thing. Free country, light em up if you got em. I’ve never had a cig in my life haha.
King Biden is a little much, isn’t Trump the one who fought for a President can’t be legally liable for anything in a court of law? I think I remember that maybe I am wrong, if that is the case… That sounds a little king like thinking to me. Both sides think they are untouchable and they keep proving to be right. Wonder why that is… oh yeah identity politics allows folks to get away with murder, just ask Killary lol.
Naw, its more like Exalted World Ruler Trump. He is apparently annexing Canada, Panama, and Greenland and renaming any part of the world he pleases.
Sounds kinda Hitleresq.
Love it.
And watching the woke/libs/smart guys melt down is the best part of it.
Sniffer doesn’t know live people from dead people. Mumbles. Word salad latest she doesn’t know pledge of allegiance. Quite the 1-2 punch.
He’s unreal. I may not hit on all my cylinders anymore but i don’t pretend to be a president.
Parson that criminal Liz Chaney.
Raiders fired Antonio Pierce. Need a new Head Coach.
Jets
Saints
Bears
Patriots
Jags
Raiders
6 head coaching openings at the moment.
I should definitely be dusting off my resume.
Titans fired their GM too.
No way is Flores back next year.
Which one of those organizations can Flo turn around?
So far staying DC for the Vikings seems smarter unless something else comes open.
I think he’s gone.
Maybe.
But if it only about $$ the Willfs can pay more.
A boy can dream.
Would be nice to keep him around, he’s done good things with the defense.
Agreed.
It is up to him though.
He can stay if he wants or go if he is offered something he believes is better.
Somehow I’m getting Pat Shurmur vibes watching Flo’s latest press conference. Hope he is fully focused on the Rams, and not on preparing for his interviews.
We can but pray.
It would so very Vikings to kicked in the nuts by that situation again.
Lots of broken logic here about Flores.
‘the Jets and Bears probably aren’t going to be able to entice him enough to leave his current role with Minnesota’
But New England is a ‘much better fit’ despite it’s 4-13 record and the fact that they have not asked to interview him? Plus they just fired their Black HC after 1 year and Flo has an ongoing lawsuit against the NFL for racism.
Flores might move on the be a Head Coach somewhere but I am thinking it takes more than money, that he will find a better situation for himself.
https://thevikingage.com/brian-flores-leaving-minnesota-vikings-more-realistic-jets-bears
Flores at the Bears would be interesting.
Most of their issues are on the Offensive side, plus they need someone to mentor/guide The Crybaby.
If he went there he would need a good-great offensive coordinator.
His mindset on Defense fit them no doubt, don’t think it is enough.
I could be wrong, I am not the ‘smartest guy in the room’,
You’re probably right. But that team like a few others is seriously lacking in discipline. And he would bring that.
As a head coach, Flores helped lead Miami to consecutive winning seasons between 2020 and 2021, the franchise’s first since 2003. His overall record with the Dolphins was 24-25. Whether he has what it takes to be a really good head coach remains to be seen. He had his foot in the door once, and was OK. Three seasons later, he may have seen/learned enough to take a big step.
think he’ll get a chance.
Jets requested an interview with him, so he has been given the opportunity to compete for a HC job.
Bares as well.
But those might just as well be ‘Rooney Rule’ interviews as actual opportunities.
Well yes, but I think Flores is more of a “valid” interview.
That would be interesting trolling.
Flo has lawsuit against NFL for racism.
So teams schedule him to interview to get around the NFL rule that exists due to racism.
Not sure if that would hurt or help the NFLs case.
Flores filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL, alleging racial discrimination in the league’s treatment of minority coaches and executives. There is a lot of legal wrangling going on regarding the NFL’s constitution, and their right to use arbitration with the commissioner to resolve Flores’ complaints, vice a court battle. Judges have said putting Goodell in charge of this would be akin to the fox guarding the henhouse as it were, but the NFL insists Flores signed contracts that established arbitration as the course of action for any complaints. The arguments are going around in circles, and it may be years before the case is resolved.
Might enhance his job opportunities to just drop the case at this point.
Might, but keep in mind he brought the case, knowing it might ruin his chances of ever getting a head coaching job again. Thus, dropping the case to get a head coaching job doesn’t seem to make sense.
Sometimes you just learn to stop hitting your hand with a hammer.
He believes that system is rigged so he is fighting that.
He would probably take a settlement if they agreed to chance some of their policies.
Doesn’t he still have an active lawsuit against the NFL? Does that make it less likely someone will put him has the head honcho?
President Trump just held a news conference where he answered more questions from reporters than Dim Biden did in his entire 4 years.
Big News – President Trump is changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Don’t know that he can do that but that is a nice thought.
Thought the $20 Billion investment in new DataCenters to support AI was the big news from that press conference.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-addresses-nation-after-congress-certifies-2024-victory
The Gulf of America… what a dingus. But honestly a smart move on his part. Because the lowest and loudest brow of his followers will eat the garbage up.
Bet even “upper brow” followers too. but then I eat a lot of garbage.
It’s just so petty and dumb. Why even put any thought or effort into this? It’s because the MURICA crowd loves this kind of nonsense.
Just like I find ‘build from the middle out and the bottom up’ dumb too and actually insulting
And you are ‘stupid or brainwashed’ like the rest of us.
Probably the stupid part. Not smart enough to be brainwashed.
Epic trolling to get the libs like you in a tizzy.
Just like Canada being the 51st state.
You mean Russia.
Band had a gig the weekend before Christmas called Riffmas. Here’s a snippit someone got with their camera.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eX9WaoxEriS2SvkqOxNcvYJoEVtOxcyG/view?usp=drive_link
Nice set! Money for nothing and chicks for free.
It’s Monday again?
That is going to make for a long week.
Trump’s Greatest Achievements and What’s to Come
Give me half of what the author is taking and I will live blissfully for the rest of my life. That is, if I don’t OD on whatever he/she/they are taking.
Remember, it’s the Hill, not the most objective journalism around.
Just Edge being the dumbass he is, JR… not worth looking at his tripe.
Truth.
Dumbass but believes he is the smartest guy in the room.
Best to just ignore him.
Nope, not the smartest at all. Just questions things, even my own beliefs, stops me from falling into the trap of being a tool.
Also, you get I posted that to get a rise out of folks right? I don’t actually think it was an accurate article.
Nope just a dumbass with dumbass perspectives.
But remember that the rest of us are ‘Stupid or brainwashed’.
When someone insists everyone is a tool but him… you know who the tool is.
I don’t insist everyone is at all. I am saying I really try hard to be open minded enough to not be. If you take me saying that I question everything even my own stances threatens you to the level where you need to be defensive… might want to take a look in the mirror buddy.
Yes you do… you say overtly anyone who supports Trump is a tool, brainwashed, sheep, etc. Now you say you don’t do that? STFU.
Your “open mind” is devoid of rational thought son.
Tool.
I supported Trump winning so there’s that. I have said many times he has done plenty of good for this country. I defend Trump to my lefty friends when warranted and they spew incorrect stuff because they live in a lefty echo chamber. I hear this same shit from my lefty friends that I am just a Big Trumper when I point out they are just being controlled by their political identities too. Hate seeing it on either side. I truly believe it’s what allows corruption in politics to thrive with no end in sight and is the biggest issue we face in this country. But keep up your odd insecurity tirade.
Laughing… you supported Trump’s winning while calling his supporters brainwashed tools.
What a moron.
‘What a moron’.
While at the same time being the smartest man in the room dealing with ‘stupid or brainwashed’ ‘tools’.
At times it really comes across that way. I know I am wrong at times about shit, absolutely am, I am OK with that, it’s why I am also OK changing my position on things. You guys have helped sway me on things. I use to believe incorrectly that Trump assigning more justices means some kind of Republican cohort of voting justices… It’s not the case. But sometimes people on here just like groups of friends that I have that are lefties really come across brain washed by their identity politics.
A question I ask honestly and really don’t. mean this in a bad way. Hope it doesn’t.
You come across to me as a liberal (no problem) but you very much want to act open minded and on a fair keel, so you will blast a conservative position but always throw in a little kernal like the ‘dems are fools too.’
Is this fair or wrong?
Yeah I get the same shit from liberal friends but backwards because I am neither. There are conservative things I am very stern on like 2nd amendment. I mean I use to be more Libertarian than I am now but it was like, I want the government out of shit, leave me alone ya know? Smoke your weed while getting gay married while firing off your AK, etc… etc…
The reason it comes across as being more liberal to you guys and my liberal friends say I’m actually a conservative is probably the way I go about this stuff. My real thing is when I see clear identity political echo chamber shit going on I attack that. If that’s conservative bullshit or liberal bullshit. It’s real, identity politics and living inside an echo chamber is 100000000% real. I hate it so damn much and I am sure the issue is how I go about it. I probably suck at getting my point across because it just comes off attacking and then if it’s around here they do what they are taught to do, defend the right. Just like my lib friends do what they have been conditioned to do, defend their political identity left.
Nothing wrong on having an opinion and expressing it, even in a strong manner.
Again, to me, when ‘one’ expresses an opinion, against perhaps the majority of voices, there is no need to throw something in like I do it to my lib friends too. Why? Just say as you please to counter the matter presented.
Politics are politics, and people may not be open minded, but why do you hate that so much as you indicate?
Haha, just saw it on Reddit Politics Page, I brows that sometimes. Saw this and thought… O M G, I need to post this on here haha. It’s a terrible article.
You need to wear your MAGA hat more often. It helps lower blood pressure.
It’s such a stupid hat. Might was just wear a hat that says, “I’m a Tool and Can’t Think Critically” haha.
I had to double check to make sure it wasn’t BabylonBee.
Hahaha
Somehow they skipped over the border security issue.
Yes they should have mentioned how Biden solved the shortage of workers issue, by bringing in day laborers.
What did you want him to do? Bring in night laborers!?!?! Come on now!
Day laborers is probably too racist, I should have said undocumented workers, to do the job lazy Americans don’t want to do.
I was just being a smart ass.
I know, but the undocumented workers sounds more like the article.
Oh man! I made the mistake of clicking on the link with a mouthful of coffee, now its all over my keyboard.
Happy Tuesday morning everyone!
Why do Mondays seem so long?
Flo goes to bears. Book it.
Montana setting themselves up for an epic comeback by going down 21-3 at the half.
Bold strategy, lets see how it pays off.
They tried but the defense couldn’t get the stops when they needed to. FTB
Almost worked.
They got to within 3 several times.
35-32 final.
Some day one of the teams i cheer for will win one.
Twins a couple of times.
Lakers back when basketball wasn’t screwed up by woke.
I have had a few highlights in my life.
Nothing recent of course.
Chase Elliot was the only championship I’ve seen from a team i cheer for in my memory. Apparently I just follow losers. That’s why I come here i guess.
Only the Twins for me. I actually got to go to game 1 in 91. Since then, crushed at every turn by all the others….. still pissed Denny decided to take a knee in 98!!
We had such a great team in 1998, should have won it all.
Just cheer for the Bison, no reason not to.
A year ago to the day I was 174/104 for my blood pressure.
Today even after all my drinking, staying up late, eating ridiculously in Phoenix, was sick for a week and still a little and such over the holidays (still working out) I’m 123/78. Nice.
Very good.
Very good indeed. Wonder how long it was that high since I rarely ever saw a doctor.
Great improvement. Congratulations!
Thanks! appreciate it.
That’s very good, happy that you managed to get this managed.
I did fall asleep, Skol North:
4x in red zone,0 TD
3x goal to goal,0 TD
2 4th and goal attempts
1 missed FG
No team in last 30 years has done that in same game
FTR
Anyone watching bobcats vs NDSU for FCS championship this evening?
Yessir!
LET’S GO CATS
Fell asleep 2nd half. Sam looked more old Sam. Our o-line still sucks. Let some team pay Sam and fix it. Roll the dice.
Thinking of Lifers response makes me smile.
The is way less of a ridiculous way to react than the way the right reacted 4 years ago…
Go govern California, perfect fit for you.
Why on earth would I want to do that?
Part of me thinks California deserves it if they vote for her.
Part of me knows that a lot of Californians don’t deserve/vote for that.
Best answer it to vote with your feet and leave, worked for us.
Will say Harris actually handled that better than I would have imagined. Given her that.
One side handles defeat a little better, I guess😗
Yup we saw how they handled it in 2016.
Where were you 2 years ago when I needed an ally against 5? haha. But to be fair Pubs are unaware that the Dems have ever won an election. Either the Pubs win or the left cheated and they don’t acknowledge they ever won unless the left does something stupid (happens all the time) and then they acknowledge the stupidity that they enacted with the power they don’t have since they didn’t win. It’s quite the spectacle.
Well Democrats didn’t really lose. It was just “bad messaging” and people were so dumb they didn’t know how good they really have it.
Hard to accept a certainly rigged election in 2020. Maybe many of them are rigged anyway, but that was blatant. But if you’re on the winning side, nobody there cares.
Which goes for both sides. Agreed
Jets
Saints
Bears
Patriots
Jags
5 head coaching openings at the moment.
Black Monday. Lots of teams with bad records looking for a coach. Best think hard, qb situation, draft picks.
i saw edge’s buddy tucker kraft sent a tweet out saying he didn’t like van gink’s hit on “Defense-less” Gibbs and should have went lower, towards the knees more, rather than legal hit to his chest.
Very mean. Should have just hugged him.
Tucker obviously would have aimed for the ACL.
Yep, give him his pillow and lay him down GENTLY.
Haha just idiocy. That was about as perfect and hard of a hit as you can legally do in today’s NFL.
Touché.
I had a friend who said that was a “hit to the head” too after I complained about Oliver legitimately getting a helmet to his helmet from Branch later in the game. I told him he needs glasses.
So the refs weren’t’ the primary reason the Vikings lost yesterday, but damn… Another missed facemask (that would have negated a 15yd sack), another jump and slam to the head of Darnold, helmet to helmet on Josh Oliver (from that a-hole Branch), missed safety, the interesting “respotting” of the ball twice when the Vikings had the ball and were about to start a play, and some missed defensive PI and holds make me think there was a direction the NFL wanted this game to go.
That being said, the Vikings certainly could have made it closer or won by scoring some touchdowns. But man, no other team gets screwed like that as consistently, and it seems to happen pretty blatantly versus the Packers and Lions these days. And of course, the Chiefs.
you forgot the icing of the kicker, making sure the ball was indeed the kicking ball…………..
Yep, that was the second “respotting” the ball I mentioned (or whatever you want to call it).
ok yes, that was really stupid.
granted, the refs didn’t have anything to do with darnold sucking i suppose. we could have won if darnold hit a few of those td throws….
I don’t know how much the new Social Security law will effect my SS payments.
I know my payments were reduced due to my work at the prison, don’t think it was all that much since my Army Retirement is smaller than my prison retirement.
I could do research and math and get a ‘guesstimate’ but it easier to just wait for the first payment later this month.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/millions-get-higher-social-security-payments-under-new-law
Hope ‘you’ get more money.
but not sure this is good governance of the program.
I’m no expert but believe the Windfall Elimination Program was for gov’t type programs. for example, when I worked I paid into SS and my employer match those funds. Under this program. some gov’t agencies didn’t match fund and thus later people didn’t get as much as less was put. in for “them.”
So, this looks like while nice for people, the fund is actually going to be less financially sound.
But probably there’s more to it here.
It will hurt the SS system, that is why they put the rules in place to begin with.
There are people who really need the money, I am not one of those.
No way to refuse the additional funds, maybe it will be small money.
I’m sure there are folks who really need more money.
On the other hand, the plan is on the road to going broke.
Tough situations require hard decisions.
Hard decisions that are hard on ‘other people’ are not hard decisions.
Politicians don’t make hard decisions. Would rather kick the ball and give something to everyone.
It is a crazy mixed up world we live in with some that seem to have no hope. One of my great-nieces (she is 18) was at a conference last week in Madison, WI. The hotel she was at has a lobby that is open up to the top floor. She was in the lobby when some guy jumped to his death from the eighth floor. Afterwards she remembers seeing the guy come in and getting into the elevator. When it happened, she thought at first that someone had dropped a sweater from one of the upper floors, but then realized it was a person. She said that when he hit the floor, it was so loud that it gave her a headache. There was someone there that she knew was a nurse and so she told them that someone had fallen and they tried CPR. Later they found out it was a suicide. I know that I don’t have that mindset so it is hard for me to understand, but why do people have to commit suicide in public? I haven’t studied it, but I’m sure there are 1000s of ways to kill yourself in private. My great-niece seems to be doing ok or at least she is putting on a good front, but her friend is really taking it hard. Our pastor’s wife was there and offered to take them home, but they decided to stay for the conference.
I have trouble imagining a scenario in which I commit suicide.
In Prison, gangs would tell an enemy to commit suicide or they would go ‘visit’ their family. That might be enough.
Certainly could be things like that happening. And if it’s public, you know it won’t go days without getting discovered.
In prison the gangs know almost immediately.
I know, I was talking more about the situation above maybe if that was the case.
I’d contemplate suicide if I was facing life in prison where I’d be passed around like a sex doll from one inmate to another. Unless it was a women’s prison, of course.
A women’s prison full of tranny’s??
No no nothing that comforting. More like a women’s prison consisting of pleasing to the eye virginal models that suffer from uncontrollable attraction to middle aged bald men.
We visited a woman joint while we were in the academy.
We agreed on the bus on the way that we would see how many attractive women were there.
(yes guys are pigs)
The consensus was that there were 2 in the entire prison, one was in lock up so only a few of us saw her.
Knowing what goes on in there I would have to consider it too.
I’m glad they didn’t land on someone in the lobby.
If he would have jumped later, it very well could have happened. There were hundreds more people coming for the conference. My great-niece and her friend were just early.
My first thought too.
Glad she’s doing alright. That’s horrific. Unless there’s a note we don’t know if it was public on purpose for a reason or if they just knew that hotel had access to a high floor and a hard floor below that they could easily get to.
For those desperate for a grin, or groan this morning.
What do you call a Irishman so excited he is bouncing off the walls?
Last night all of 20 minutes before the game got a bunch of emails from Amex suggesting I was getting a new card. Since I got a new card all of six weeks ago that seemed odd. Figured I’d better call them even though I was in “game-gonna-startitis” mode. CSR told me that all of 10 minutes before the email was sent their fraud detection algorithms found my card number being shopped on the black market dark web. They had automatically frozen my card and sending me a new one. That’s kinda cool! Dirty dogs that got my information…my wife and I had it narrowed down to either the site she ordered me fancy new underwear (those darn Canadians…review of underwear to follow) or some China site that she ordered some new pants from.
At least I have very recently updated autopay information for all sorts of utilities and such with Amex, so I should be able to do that pretty quickly.
I think it is almost to the point where hackers have everyone’s information. I had mine stolen from my employer’s insurance company this year in a data breach.
Morning Skolos…..
Crappy loss last night. Outplayed. Out coached. Darnold looked awful and off all night. High throws. Wide throws. Receivers open all over the place. Line blocked well enough. Went away from the run – inexplicably near the goal line.
Defense played well early – but on the field way too much. No answer for Gibbs. Couldn’t get home. Missed a chance on the Van Ginkel near-pick.
Our kicker is mediocre.
Better heal quick and get it figured out or the season is over a week from now in LA.
Not that sad today. 14-3 is way better than most of us expected. I think the future is bright. Added a few good pieces on Defense. WR room looks to be pretty good for a while. Hockenson looks completely healthy. We’ll get Darrisaw back. Good amount of cap space next year. Excited for the future.
Season isn’t over. In the SB era there have been two 5-seeds to win it all. Both in the last 20 years. It’ll be an uphill battle and most have counted us out.
But the season isn’t over…….yet.
SKOL
I’d be surprised if McCardell and McCown don’t get added to these lists.
Rooney Rule?
And why would he want to go there?
Chance to beat the piss out of Miami twice a year might be a motivator
Jets currently are a dumpster fire.
Beating the Fins twice a year could take awhile.
Rex Ryan thinks he’s got the job in the bag already…..
There it is.
Not a great loss if so.
Better than losing Coach Flo that’s for sure.
I don’t know. I think he’s been a pretty instrumental part of Darnold’s resurgence. It’s bound to happen though. He’s already been in discussions for HC jobs. McCardell will be an OC at least soon too.
Maybe I am just biased against drunks.
What’s the rule?
He has a game this week, and isn’t allowed to interview.
What is going on up nort der eh?
TSX index is actually doing well all things considered.
Let’s look at the bright side. Most here didn’t think the Vikings would even be in the playoffs, but they are. We don’t have to sit through a week of football without the Vikings playing. There is hope for the future. The team is solid and KOC and Kwesi are building something. They are still in the rebuild part of the plan and went 14-3. They have a stud young QB on a rookie contract. The timing of JJets contract means they can also extend Addison in a year or two if they want to. Most of the good defensive players are under contract still, just need to make decisions on Bynum and Murphy. Depending on how those decisions go, they should have plenty of cap space to bring in some free agent talent. If they went 14-3 this year, next year should be pretty good if Kwesi keeps up his streak of bringing in the right talent in free agency.
This season isn’t over. We lost a game to maybe the best team in the league. So now we go to playoffs. Wild Card is a tough route, but we’ll see.
Losing home field advantage is the big blow.
I’d take an extra game if they could all be home games……..
I knew that there was a good chance we would lose. That didn’t upset me, wish the Offense would not have shit the bed.
A game next week is a plus vs a bye and sitting around a week. The downside is the loss of the home games.
Still playing with house money. If Sam doesn’t come thru better next Monday his future isn’t nearly as bright.
Life goes on, Viking Fans are used to this.
This. All of what you said. Been a helluva ride. And it ain’t over yet.
Next Years opponents look tough at first glance.
Home Games
Road Games
Third time the charm?
Got to remove all of those links.
One letter seems to be a link.
Every teams is different every year. Next year we are going to be better and everyone else is going to be worse.
Road game schedule certainly not as daunting as the home games. But yikes.
So was that supposed to be a safety last night?
I was getting cookies when the announcers were yapping about it, and I am too old to realize I could Google it…
Yeah, the announcers and their on air ref said so.
Should have been a safety, and maybe a penalty. He hit an O-lineman with the throw – that should be Illegal Touching
Well the ball hit a lineman first too which is a penalty.
My confession (which shouldn’t come as a shock to regulars).
I had the team 3-14 this season behind Darnold. I was hoping McCarthy would break into the QB1 position and gain experience. Instead the rookie goes down with a non contact meniscal tear, and Vikes flip 3-14 to 14-3 behind a QB making $10M. He definitely earned his contract.
Five games back I went on record that it was extremely improbable that the Vikings would capture the 1 seed. Not only did Detroit have to lose a game (they did) but we had to win out. The bridge too far was always the last game of the season. But darn even I was starting to doubt my gloomy outlook when we were sitting first and goal at the DET 5 early in the second…oh I was right turned over on downs…oh I was wrong INT to the 8.
All of those one score games belie the fact that this team struggles to execute offensively when they need to ice a game. Twice we let GB get within two points at the end.
The key game of the season was the loss to Detroit at US Bank. That set up Detroit to sweep the division and it was a foregone conclusion we would lose on a short week to LA.
In the end, Vikings defied my expectations bigly. No style points for a loss, whether we lost by a single point to Detroit with a terrible missed facemask to end the game or they trounced us like a peewee team, we lost. I’m just glad there was no doubt that we were outplayed in every facet rather than lost because of injury at a key position or poor referee call.
The biggest problem I have been seeing in these road games is Sam is consistently kneeling in the huddle calling out the play with :15 on the play clock, getting lined up with somewhere between :08-:10 seconds, and snapping the ball at the 00 mark (or in reality last night, somewhere around minus 1.5 seconds.
Yeah, defense can really key in when they know you literally have to snap it that second. Gotta get prepared faster.
I absolve you…
I wasn’t surprised we lost. I was very surprised we got our asses kicked….how disappointing.
We weren’t really getting our asses kicked in the first half. We were handing it to Detroit…on defense. Our offense failed miserably.
True.
I thought we would score since the Lions defense is beat up. If we got killed, I figured it would only be because of turnovers.
Nope. We just couldn’t score. Frustrating.
Now, truly the score didn’t reflect the true nature of how one sided it wasn’t. Defense did everything they could, offence was 0-4 in the redzone at one point. That’s 28 points right there.
1-8 passing inside the 10.
Offense for sure wan’t good. But they didn’t turn the ball over, and defense gave up nearly 400 yards and 31 points. In the playoffs, you give up 31 points
and you’re probably going home.
They wouldn’t have given up that many points if the offense wouldn’t have kept going 3 and out and not scoring on short fields.
Believe we also gave up 31 points to them last game and we moved ball better.
If the offense could have had some extended drives and scored that would have helped the defense.
Darnold sucked, kicker seems like he’s maybe still injured
I was thinking we rushed Will back to quickly. And I will stand by what I said last week, that the 3 kicks to end the half may have reaggravated the hamstring.
dear minnesota vikings,
idk why i love you, you hurt me every season, completely and utterly….yet here we are, loving you. you are so toxic for me..
i’m not mad at you, but i’m just really disappointed in you. but what is more disappointing is that you are now hurting my children. it’s one thing to hurt me as an adult, a grown man, but my children? why? WHY do you have to be so cruel…
you better win at least ONE playoff game, or you might lose their fandom….
yours truly
freezeface (on behalf of the freeze house)
How about the “primetime Kirk Cousins” people now? Haha. That was bad from Sam, way worse than expected.
And last night is another reason I just don’t buy into the KOC hype – he can’t get it done when he needs to. Say what you want about his winning regular season record, but he tries to get too cute on plays we need (inside the five on what, 3 drives? And we don’t run the damn ball). He needs to use common sense instead of trying to trick everyone or pass all the time. Bad game for him, and we consistently see stinkers like that from him in big spots (or lead losses that make games closer than they should be).
And great play by Gink, but he has to hold onto that ball. Game changer. Also, JJ, hit you in the hands in the end zone, catch the damn ball. Yikes.
the more i think about it, while i do think KOC didn’t have a good game last night…
Darnold did have open guys and he missed them.
i would have liked to see KOC scheme up some quicker pass plays, but how many times did Darnold miss his guy. MANY times.
KOC doesn’t know how to scheme up quick pass plays.
Couldn’t agree more. He has good long-developing pass plays, but he seems averse to switching it up when needed. Need to feast on the short slants.
I will say KOC does not use timing routes and slants in his scheme. It’s been a pet peeve of mine since he arrived. He wants an adaptive passing offense that requires both the QB and the receivers to read the defense, and adjust to it on the fly. Theoretically, this passing attack would be all but unstoppable, except for the human element. There was a perfect example last night where two receivers were literally running right at each other to the same spot on the field, and Sam tried to squeeze the ball in. The pass was batted down easily by a defender.
Exactly. I was frustrated with KOC’s play calls inside the 10. It seems every other team is able to hit receivers on inside slants for easy TDs but we can’t.
But KOC schemed open Hock twice and Sam missed him for big first downs. JJ was open in the corner of the end zone once and Sam missed him.
Still, runs were working pretty well – why are we passing so much in those situations? Especially once you know Sam is off? I mean, slum-breaker potential, but really?
Because our running game is based on outside runs and getting angles. That’s not how you run inside the 5 yard line. You need big bruisers to push, which we do not have in the IOL.
Could still try. I believe Gibbs scored 2 TD’s on similar-type plays. Granted, Aaron Jones is not as fast, but we could easily do it.
When VanGinkel clocked Gibbs, I thought he was done for at least the night…no way Jones would have been effective after that hit.
I’d still be laying on my back on the field, talking with pink elephants and fairies.
That was a brutal hit! Gibbs must be one tough kid.
Yup, he had open guys. Talking heads this morning showed some “all 22” film, and he had open receivers. The o-line didn’t do Sam any favors, but he was definitely off on many throws last night.
Addison could have had at least 2 easy TDs but Sam just didn’t throw it.
Kirko in prime time or under pressure is shit. Today we learned that Sam was 10 million because he is not worth 40 mil.
Neither is your friend Kirk, who is now a clipboard holder.
Wait. His season is over.
Now he waits to see where he ends up once the team releases him.
He deserves Cleveland. I hope that happens.
Unlikely since they still have to pay Watson. The Jets would be a good ending for him.
But the Jets have to pay the douche.
Look for SF if Atlanta releases him.
The problem for Kirko is his contract demands. Although his 2025 salary would be an offset.
Just saying – that was an all-time choke, just as bad as any primetime game choke from Kirk, and I just want to hear people admit it. 😉
Sam choked big time but that has nothing to do with Kirk. If last night makes them let Sam walk, I am not upset it happened. I just don’t want to have to watch the Lions in the Super Bowl. Unless the Vikes can go on a run, I’ll cheer for anybody but them. Hell, I’d rather the Packers make it and lose to the Bills.
Agreed. Have friends that are pompous d-bags and say to quit complaining about the refs (after several bad no-calls yesterday), which is rich coming from a Lions fan who has complained about getting the shaft from the NFL refs for literal decades.
I fully admit that Sam Darnold was shit last night. And the Tenn and Jax games.
10 mil vs 40 mil makes sense, but I am already looking forward to JJ next year.
This team is done.
This year is playing out exactly how I expected, disappointingly. I thought playoffs this year and NFCCG, maybe SB next year with JJ. I just don’t want to see them give up big money to Sam after the year. I would accept a transition tag.
4300 plus yards and 35 TD’s. How many QB’s play at that level over a season?
Kirk was so bad he didn’t even make it to the final 3 weeks of the season.
He hasn’t been great, but he is old and coming off a big injury last season. What’s Sam’s excuse?
Sam’s excuse is that he is still a pumpkin and KOC just did a masterful job making him look competent all year. Imagine how good JJ is going to be if he can do that with Darnold.
The same as Kirkos when it matters.
Short on 4th and 8.
No, we don’t run and have to get cute when your OL isn’t very good at run blocking to begin with and is getting their shit pushed in all night. The real issue is how do we not have things where Jets, Addison, or Hock aren’t schemed open and get the ball out quickly or hot reads to take advantage of overly aggressive defense? That is what is so frustrating to me.
I mean, JJ dropped a pass (high, but should have been caught) and then Darnold missed him next play. But 90% pass plays from inside the 10? I can’t agree with that. Sam had a chance to run on a couple of those, too. He forgets he can run down there.
JJ has the clutch gene and that will be the difference next year if they aren’t dumb enough to pay Sam big money.
I am the QB defender of this site. I can usually see the QB in a better light than most. Last night, Sam missed wide open guys repeatedly on throws I could have made. It was a mental thing in my opinion. He choked. It doesn’t mean he’s cooked, terrible, a loser, etc. It doesn’t mean he can’t play at a high level anymore. It doesn’t erase all the good games he’s had, and all the good throws he’s made. It just sucks that he lost it last night.
The Vikings are in the playoffs, and they can still make some noise. If I was KOC, I would be asking the team if they wanted last night’s performance to be their legacy for the season? I’d say the resounding response would be “no”. I think we’ll see a much better performance against the Rams.
the game seemed WAY TOO BIG for darnold.
We’ll see how he performs Monday night, but if he has another stinker, i think we saw his ceiling..hoping it was just an off night from him.
The ghosts of his past came back last night.
I’ll say this. I choked in games, and it kinda took all the pressure off, and I ended up playing better. You go into a game, everyone is looking to you to play at a high level, and you just suck. Then, it’s like you get it out of your system. You have played terrible in a big game, trying too hard, and putting too much pressure on yourself. Your worst fears have been realized though, and then it’s like a weight is lifted off of you. Also, you come out swinging the next game, playing pissed off. I’m looking for a much different Sam Darnold against the Rams.
Has he ever been in a game that big? Sometimes you need the experience to help you for the next time. Or maybe he needed a quarterback whisperer to calm him down.
I know you are a QB defender and a good one.
That was no doubt ghe biggest night, game, of his professional light. Huge pressure on him to perform both for the team and him personally. But he’s not the first good QB to have problems the first time facing this type of pressure.
Would expect he will respond well this week against Rams.
Yep
Darnold sucked.
You don’t need a degree in QB-ing to explain it.
Darnold lost this game. Or failed to keep it competitive.
Its 98% on Darnold.
i hope KOC tells Suckard (my nickname for Reichard) to boot it out of the endzone from now on.
that was lame
I heard this morning that his foot slipped on the out-of-bounds kickoff.
Quite a few players had feet slip out from under them last night.
And the kickoff prior to that one when it barely stayed inbounds?
Lions’ kicker hit one like that too – started off down the middle and hooked like crazy.
I think they were intentionally trying to do it, and we saw what can go wrong with it.
‘I think they were intentionally trying to do it’
Kind of eliminates the ‘his foot slipped’ narrative doesn’t it?
On the first 2 (theirs and ours that nearly went out), yes.
But after shanking the one badly, he kicked straight.
I’d imagine it’s somewhat similar to intentionally hooking a golf shot off the tee – you position your feet differently and swing a bit differently. To put enough spin on the football to make it hook I’d imagine you need to alter your plant foot placement – the resulting torque could have decreased his footing.
Just pure speculation.
You lost me at Golf.
I thought we play on Monday night.
I just don’t get how we had no answer for the pressure with all our weapons being manned up. Is it that we are just that out physically matched? Teams scared to play our WRs man for fears of getting beat and the Lions went, fuck it, smack em in the mouth and see how they react. Kuddos to the Lions, they smacked us in the mouth and we didn’t know how to react.
Also, holy shit I saw that Nancy Pelosi’s personal stock portfolio all the big hedge funds. The highest return rate being 36.1%… and hers… 54%. I know I shit on the corn gobbler gnome from SD for being corrupt (and she is) but wow. She has a ways to go to catch Pelosi. Absolute crook.
I’m pretty sure Pelosi has a cottage made of candy in the woods.
Sounds delicious… wanna go?
Our combined height is probably above 13 feet, and our combined weight is probably 500 pounds, and I would still be terrified!
Candy mountain Charlie!
Now this site is completely throwing me for a loop. thumbs down on shitting on Dems now too haha.
Probably just you.
It’s the same for both sides
Not around these parts of the internet. Orange Man can do no wrong. Pretty sure around here 4 years ago absolutely nothing happened in Washington and everyone who did wrong even though nothing wrong happened was a Dem for some reason protesting a Dem winning or was made to do it by a Dem.
Next Monday morning, there will be 9 teams alive for a Super Bowl. The Vikings will be one of them. (Did anybody have that on their bingo card in August?)
Can they be in the final 8????
We’ll find out !!
Maybe they are, but they will just get rekt in the next round.
Yes they will. Detroit simply has our number. We can best the rest, IF we play well.
I am holding the Vikes to beating the Rams…or else! A team simply can’t go 13-4 and get bounced in the first round.
I’m pretty sure there is a law against that.
Agreed.
Thats on KOC if they get bounced by the Rams.
Weren’t we a 13-win team when we got killed by the Giants and got Daniel Carlson his big contract?
If that happens to KOC twice, that is not a good look. Regular season is fun, but he needs to stack some playoff success.
Yeah, losing to the Rams (again)will be really bad.
No Kirk scapegoat this time either.
Sure there is, we’re still paying for him and he’s contributing nothing to the team right? That’s actually worse than when he was playing for us! lol
…
He also contributed nothing to ATL his last 5 starts.
And they get to pay him next year.
What a way to live. I want to do nothing and get paid!
14-3, but yeah, I know what you mean. It would be a disappointing end to the season to be one and done.
This, in a nutshell.
I expected more, and that is on me. I bought in to the hype, once again. Turned the game off at 17-9.
Team could still make a run, but I am really just looking forward to seeing JJ develop next season.
Sam has been good for us, and got the team this far. Last nights game shows exactly why the team should be willing to let him walk. Cannot fold like a wet blanket when the lights are the brightest. At least he was only 10 mil vs 40+ for Kirko.
O line is still a huge issue. You had 1 starter on the lions D line and could not stop the pass rush. Terrible.
Defense is old. Lots of holes to fill next season. Need better RB, but part of that is the shit blocking. Need to keep the QB pay low in order to pay the players needed. Build the team from the inside out. Strong trench, and you can run the damned ball into the end zone when you get a first and goal. Or, keep trying to thread the needle by passing.
KOC was terrible.
Hate to be talking doom, but this team is not going to get there this season.
It was a fun year, and I will still watch next week. But this season is not getting the happy ending (not the Robert Kraft kind).
Sam simply had a bad game. It happens to every QB that has ever played. Unfortunately it didn’t happen against the Colts or somebody. Expect he will rebound strongly against the Rams.
Realistically the Lions have our number, They have beaten us now five times in a row. Some teams are just a bad matchup and they seem to be for us.
we now have a tougher road to the SB, but it ain’t over.
One game at a time now.
ooofda. that might have been one of KOC’s worst coached games to date…
he really let Dan motherbleeping Campbell in his head and he tried to go toe to toe with him in terms of aggression/4th downs etc and we are NOT that kind of team.
Our offensive line was so poopy. sam darnold was pumpkin poopy. I’m over reichard being the next STUD for us. he’ll be fine but he’s turned into a very average kicker and he has had at least 2 kickoffs this year out of bounds that i recall and that completely gives the other team momentum. He almost had 2 kickoffs out of bounds last night. like wtf.
our defense kept us in it until the 4th quarter. If van gink holds onto that ball, momentum shifts, but our offense was so bad it wouldn’t have mattered.
You might say we were…KOC blocked…
Excited for McCarthy’s clutch gene. Seems every year comes down to QB clutchness.
Sam, Reichard and KOC stock definitely down today. I am not yet hoisting a torch and pitchfork yet, though. I leaned toward the Vikes losing. The Lions are the team to beat for a reason. I shut the game off at 24-9. Vikes aren’t paying me enough to stay up past my bedtime to watch a bad game and make me tired for work the next day.
However, if the Vikes go out in the first round of the playoffs, then all mockery is well and truly deserved. Losing to the Rams is certainly plausible. Stafford has the arm and wits to deal with defenses. Nacua is lethal. McVay knows how to win in the post season. Plus, they beat us already. I reckon the Rams are fine with how things fell for them.
Vikes will need to show up in all phases of the game to win that one.
We went from a possible best case scenario, having the 1 seed and 1st round bye, to possibly the worst case scenario getting the 5 seed and playing one of the hottest teams in the playoffs.
I am not disappointed in the loss if we are able to win a couple of playoff games. Would be nice to at least make the NFCCG.