Welcome to Skoloholics! The Vikings-Lions game, game three of the season, is in the books, and the Vikings are now 2-1. Much of the team did not look great for much of the game.. The passing offense was horrible for most of the game, the run defense was the same, and the kicking game decided to have an off-day yesterday, too. Overall, they were not fun to watch. We’ll see how bad the Cook injury is, but it’s looking like a good idea to have kept Mattison. Here’s the game thread.
First Half:
Offense: Bad for most of the half, especially the passing offense. Cook was on fire, so they decided to stop using him. Cousins has been off more than he’s been on, and he’s had time. The team came back with 14 at the end of the half to tie the game at halftime.
Defense: We can’t stop the run and opposing receivers seem to have a constant 5-yard cushion within which to roam freely and catch the ball. That’s great if you’re the offense, not so much if you’re the defense, and we’re the defense, so that’s bad. They’ve made a stop here and there, but can’t seem to stop a 4th down play to save their lives. In the end, we’re lucky to have only given up 14.
Special Teams: Hey, a bright spot! I love our new punter, he’s proving himself to be a very good punter. Coverage teams have done their jobs, too. Yay. Greg Joseph did go 0 for 2, but both misses were from 56 yards, so I’m not going to call this a bad game, he was just asked to make two very difficult kicks, and he didn’t make them. Maybe if the offense could move the ball, he wouldn’t have to kick such bombs.
Overall, it was a bad half of football for the Vikings, but they managed to hang tough, then make a comeback and tie the game.
Second Half:
Well, Kirk has manageed to avoid the turnovers. I’m going out of my way to find things to say about him that aren’t bad. He’s been frustrating as hell last week and this week, he can’t have games like this, and certainly can’t have them two weeks in a row. Jared Goff was by far the best QB in this game. Toward the end of the game, the offense managed to find its groove, and with K.J. Osbourne stepping up, the team managed to do enough to come out 4 points ahead.
Summary
Here is the game summary, stats, and highlights, courtesy of CBS Sports.
I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day, twice on Sundays, so we’ll take this win. The team is now 2-1, and they sit atop the NFC North. SKOL!!!!
Very ugly W, but those do count as well. Didn´t think the Vikes could pull off the comeback victory after they pretty much looked like horse dung for large parts of the game, but they did. Helped by Dan Campbell and his interesting decisions, of course, Lions had this one pretty much in the bag.
Worst defense in the nfl showed itself again. 3rd and 4th down calls by Lions spectacularly stupid. 2 decent passes to end and win the game, the rest of the game was ugly.
That was tough to watch. But the good guys won, so there is that.
Skol!
Eventually they wont. You cant play shit football like that against teams that arent the Lolions. Vikes deserved to lose today and luckily they didnt. Offense cant look like hot ass against one of the worst defenses in the league.
Cook has a dislocated shoulder, will play Sunday with a brace. Didn’t have the brace on today.
Ran into his own dude. Yikes.
First
win is a win but same problems with this team for the last couple of years
sputtering offense, less than average defense
Man, it was not fun to watch until toward the end. I’m just watching the replay, gonna revise this if necessary.
I was encouraged that the defense seemed to get things figured out after the first half, but good grief, do we have to give 5-yard cushions to the opposing receivers? Also, maybe try hitting the running back BEFORE he gets five yards. Just a thought. Well, two thoughts.