On Sunday, the Vikes fell to the Bucs 20-17 in our home opener. This game was weird and hard to watch. All the issues that have cursed the Vikings in past losses were shown on Sunday. It’s hard to lose a game, but it’s even worse when you lose to a team you assumed was a W on the schedule. So, what exactly went wrong in this game?
KOC fails Week 1
The opening game usually is an anomaly when it comes to the rest of the season. So let’s hope it shows that way because man the play-calling in this game was silly. I mentioned in my preview blog, this had to be something KOC grew on in year 2. And Sunday wasn’t a great start. The offense took damn near the whole 1st half to get heating up and then did close to nothing with three sad ass drives in the 2nd half. Yes, we scored, but 3 and outs while you’re losing is not the move when you have an inexperienced defense. Straight up not good.
Same Shit, Different Season?
Another crack in the armor for the Vikings on Sunday was the offensive line. The two lost fumbles in the 1st quarter are largely on the O-line. And these are things that can surely be fixed. But along the way, every NFL team loses guys to injury, and the bug already bit these Vikings. Garett Bradbury left Sunday’s game and didn’t return. As much as his status seems to rise and fall, losing a starting Center is never good. And another rough showing for Ed Ingram doesn’t help either. The fans were calling for the FO to sign Dalton Risner postgame, and he heard the chatter.
Better days ahead for the Defense?
Here is what I’m stuck on. Because the defense looked good and did their thing! But they also let up big plays early and a lot of little stuff late in the 4th. It’s the first game in a brand-new defense, so not everything will be perfect. But there will be WAY better-passing teams we see than the Bucs. So this thing needs to shape up quickly.
We saw a lot of the double A gap that looked like the Zim era, and that made me giddy. And the sacks and pressures were there. But the turnovers were not. My concern lies with this secondary and the growing pains they’ll have in games to come with better receivers and quarterbacks. Seeing how the D fares against Jalen Hurts & A.J. Brown in Week 2 should tell us more.
Most of the reaction postgame was very doomsday, and I hate that about this fanbase. It’s Week 1 got damnit! Things will get better. We lost by 3, not by 30. So to answer the question posed in the title; the Vikings will be fine. Although the schedule will get tougher, we should all do our best to ride the waves with this team. Super Bowls aren’t won in September.
Professional Driver. Lover of all things sports. I once cut meat for Paul Allen and Mark Rosen. I talk on a podcast about men hugging each other aggressively.