Vikings Lose a Costly Game to Cowboys 31-28

I don't really know what to say about this game other than that I am very upset. We had every chance to win that game and just couldn't capitalize on it. Turnovers were a killer and we couldn't make stops when we needed to. Penalties also seemed lopsided against us and killed some momentum. Still, there was some bright spots.

The offense is absolutely not the problem anymore. Everything was clicking besides the turnovers. Cousins threw for 314 yards on 22 completions, and had 3 touchdowns without any interceptions. He had the ball stripped from him in the first quarter on an awkward fumble, but he played a good game. He spread the ball out between receivers and didn't make any big mistakes. Honestly I thought it was one of his best games of the season, which makes it so much more frustrating that we lost the game.

Dalvin Cook continued to show dominance, reaching over 100 yards again and scoring a touchdown. He had a fumble as well, but in my opinion he never completed the action of the catch before he got popped. I thought he only took one step rather than two, but I was more glad he stayed in the game after the hit. He never really broke off a long run, and it seemed that the Cowboys dedicated a lot to preventing him from doing that. I think if Cook plays this well, and with how well Cousins played, we should have won this game.

Receivers all had good days too. Thielen and Jefferson combined for 209 yards and 3 touchdowns and made some big plays. The duo is really starting to remind me of last year with Diggs, although it may be too early to say with how young Jefferson is. With how well Cook has been this season it only benefits these two. They had some huge gains off of play action because the Cowboys would sell out on Cook. Rudolph and Irv Smith had decent games too, although I would like to see Cousins get Smith the ball some more. I think Irv Smith has a bright future, especially as a big red zone threat.

The defense is where this game truly went wrong. This is one of the game where we really missed Danielle Hunter and Michael Pierce. With more pressure on Andy Dalton throughout the game I think it changes the outcome. D.J. Wonnum has played very well, and others have filled in the gaps, but they don't compare with Hunter. Next year is a long ways away, and a lot may change, but the way this season has gone I think we could be pretty good with some pass rush. Only getting 1 sack on the game really hurt us, and Dalton had as much time as he wanted to pick apart the young secondary. Chris Jones had a terrible game including a bad missed opportunity to stop Tony Pollard from breaking off his 42 yard touchdown run. The defense was also put in some bad situations off of the turnovers, but they couldn't keep up with the Dallas receivers at all.

I think one of the biggest moments in the game was Eric Kendricks interception. He made an incredible diving catch that took points of the board from the Cowboys as they were in field goal range. If we could have put together a drive off of that momentum swing and taken a lead, I think we would have ran away with the game. Even on the first play of the ensuing drive Cousins dropped in a dime to Jefferson for 27 yards. After that we went no where on offense. And then we pulled off a beautiful fake punt to continue the drive, and ruined it by rushing the play and getting called for an illegal shift. If we had succeeded on that fake punt we still have a chance to capitalize on the interception and run away with the game. Instead the Cowboys get the ball, convert on a fourth down, and score a touchdown of their own. It was a huge game of what-ifs.

At this point the playoff dream is pretty much dead. We have to win the rest of our games and would need some help from some other teams losing some games. We also aren't in a place to call it a season and tank for a draft pick. We are in the worst spot in sports, mediocrity. We will finish this season 7-9 or 8-8 and end up out of the playoffs with a middle of the road pick, the most Vikings way to end the season. I'm now dedicated to watching the Packers fail (go Colts). But it's not impossible and of course there is always next year.

As always, with cautious optimism, skol Vikings.