The Minnesota Vikings were not about to threaten the 1972 Miami Dolphins. While the Vikings had been impressive in rolling to a 5-0 record to start the season, there were some flaws. They had recorded impressive victories over the San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans and Green Bay Packers, but some questions had surfaced.
Start off with quarterback Sam Darnold, who had played quite well during the winning streak but had never displayed any consistency during the first six years of his career with the Jets, Panthers and Niners. Darnold was making big plays for the Vikings — he had a 97-yard TD reception to Justin Jefferson in Week 2 against San Francisco — as well as his accuracy. But his track record indicated it was only a matter of time before he came up short.
The Vikings defense had become one of the biggest stories of the early part of the season. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores had put together a unit that was producing big plays and limiting the production of their opponents. While the Vikings had added free agents Andrew Van Ginkel, Jonathan Greenard and Blake Cashman, they had lost pass rush specialist Danielle Hunter, who had contributed 16.5 sacks last season. Hunter signed with the Texans in the offseason and is one of the most athletic pass rushers in the league.
The Vikings came up against one of the strongest teams in the league in Week 7 when they hosted the Detroit Lions. Minnesota did not play a poor game, but the Vikings came out on the short end of a 31-29 score. There was something heroic of their performance in the loss as the Vikings rallied from an 11-point deficit to take a fourth-quarter lead.
They could not hold that advantage, and their quarterback, defensive coordinator and head coach bear some responsibility.
Quarterback Sam Darnold
The numbers show that Darnold had another good game for the Vikings. He appeared ready for a confrontation with the Lions, a team that many think will represent the NFC in the Super Bowl at the end of the season.
Darnold had superior accuracy, completing 22 of 27 passes for 259 yards with 1 TD pass to Justin Jefferson and an interception by Detroit safety Brian Branch, one of the best defensive players in the league.
That interception was a problem in the game as it came late in the second quarter when the Vikings were driving for a potential score. At the time, Minnesota was trailing by a 14-10 margin. A field goal would cut the margin to a single point and a touchdown would have given them the lead. Instead, Branch’s pick led to a Lions touchdown and it enabled the Lions to go into the halftime break with a 21-10 lead.
The other shortcoming to Darnold’s performance came on Minnesota’s penultimate possession. The Vikings had a 29-28 lead at the time and had forced a three-and-out with slightly more than 4 minutes remaining. Minnesota needed to maintain possession of the ball and keep the clock moving. On a third-and-4 play, Darnold rolled to his right and attempted to hit Jefferson with a pass that would have kept the drive alive.
The pass was off course and ended up as an incompletion, forcing the Vikings to punt. The Lions took advantage, moved the ball and kicked the game-winning field goal.
Defensive coodinator Brian Flores
The Vikings defense has been confusing opponents all season long. The only team that had some semblance of success was the Packers. They had rallied from a 28-0 deficit and closed to within 31-29 in Week 4, and it was fairly scary. However, the Vikings hung on for the victory.
The Vikings were playing well on defense, ranking second in points allowed per game heading into Week 7 and doing an outstanding job of forcing turnovers.
But the Lions did not have a problem figuring out the Minnesota defense. Once the game reached the second quarter, Jared Goff and the Lions starting taking apart the Flores defense. The Lions scored three touchdowns in the second quarter, including two rushing touchdowns by Jahmyr Gibbs and a perfectly thrown TD pass from Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Those three scores gave the Lions control of the game.
Minnesota was able to rally in the second half, and it was the defense that provided the go-ahead points when Ivan Pace recovered a David Montgomery fumble and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown.
The defense came up with a stop on Detroit’s next possession, but it could not come with another when the Lions got the ball again. Goff directed the drive with confidence, and Jake Bates kicked the go-ahead 44-yard field goal.
The Vikings defense could not contain Goff, who riddled the Vikings defense by completing 22 of 25 passes for 280 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell
O’Connell is one of the brightest coaches in the NFL and he has built a winning culture with the Vikings. The locker room is a happy and productive place at U.S. Bank Stadium.
However, O’Connell may not always convey the urgency to his players that head coaches must demonstrate on a regular basis.
For example, when Darnold needed to come up with a completion on the key third-down play late in the fourth quarter, he failed to do so. A harder and more firm message from the coach to his player might have led to success on what would have been the decisive play in the game.
