Vikings Lose Disappointing Game to Bucs 26-14

I'm guessing we will hear news tonight or early tomorrow morning that Dan Bailey is no longer a Minnesota Viking. He is the reason why the Jags game last week had to go into overtime, and he is the reason the Vikings fell to the Bucs. In his last 10 total kicks, he is 3/10. 30% for the former 6th most accurate kicker of all time is one of the most Vikings seen I have ever seen. The kickers are cursed and so is the team. He cost the Vikings 10 points directly and 17 points indirectly. Every time he missed a field goal he cost the Vikings defense a lot of field position, giving them the ball at mid field at one point in the game. It's sad to see a player lose his job on live TV, but at the same time he needed to do his job and he did not today. It can't be blamed on anyone else, he straight up missed those kicks. Nothing wrong with the snaps or the holds anymore, but Bailey just cost us this game. It'll be interesting to see where the Vikings go for kicker next week, but I don't expect it to be Bailey.

The rest of the team didn't look that bad. We had the ball near twice as long as the Bucs did, ran 27 more plays, and had more total yards. We only had one turnover, but it was a meaningless garbage time fumble. The offense played good and the defense played decently well. Penalties definitely helped the Bucs score, and some terrible calls directly hurt the Vikings. Harrison Smith isn't allowed to tackle anymore because he gets called for using his head every game. Jeff Gladney watched Mike Evans fall down and had an interception taken away from him because of a "pass interference". And Todd Davis stood in front of Gronk on Hail Marry and got called for "pass interference". These penalties led to 10 points for the Bucs, but we can't place all the blame on the refs. This was absolutely a winnable game and we didn't take it.

Cousins looked impressive today. I think he has taken enormous steps since his first season in Minnesota. He moves around the pocket more, he takes off for yards, and he doesn't seem to panic as much. There was a play late in the game, on the drive that led to Bailey's third missed field goal, where Cousins avoided pressure and stepped up in the pocket to find Irv Smith for a nice gain. The old Cousins would have secured the ball and dropped to the ground. He finished the game with 225 yards on 24 completions and 1 touchdown. He also got sacked 6 times, which is really bad, but he seemed to be fighting the pressure a lot more than he used to. He really liked to get the ball off to the tight ends today, as Irv Smith and Tyler Conklin had 9 catches combined, while Thielen and Jefferson had 7 combined. I would have been nice to see Cousins get the ball to the receivers more, but this game can not be blamed on him.

Dalvin Cook had another 100 yard game, but it didn't really feel like it. Any explosive run that he had was over shadowed by the knowledge that it was leading to a missed field goal. He had 22 carries for 102 yards, and 2 catches for 8 yards. He lost a lot of his involvement early in the game as the Vikings had to start throwing the ball more to try to dig themselves out of the hole they found themselves in. I think it would have been nice to see him get some more catches in a game like this, but anytime we ran a screen for him Cousins had to throw the ball at his feet due to pressure. Cook is still one of the bright spots of this team, but it's hard to be excited about it right now.

The receivers in this game couldn't do a whole lot. Thielen had 2 catches on the first drive, and 1 the rest of the game, finishing with 39 yards. It was hard to tell if he couldn't get open or if Cousins just didn't have time to get him the ball. Jefferson was similar, as he had 39 yards on 4 catches. He had a lot more targets, but it seemed like there was always a corner right on them. Irv Smith and Conklin had 9 catches for 103 yards combined, and Irv Smith had the 1 touchdown. Smith stepped in for Rudolph and performed very well, and Conklin had a really nice game as well. C.J. Ham also had 3 catches and I always like to just see him with the ball. The receivers had good plays when they got the ball in their hands, but it was hard to get them the ball after the pressure from the Bucs and the tight coverage.

The defense didn't play amazing, but I wouldn't say they played bad. The lack of pressure on Brady really hurt us, and he seemed to be able to stand back there all day and find receivers. I also didn't like the zone scheme that we ran that allowed Chris Godwin and Mike Evans to just find wide open holes. Although that is the downside of the rookie corners, that it would be harder to trust any of them in man coverage on receivers like that. Anthony Harris looks lost out there on some plays, and has definitely regressed since his Pro-Bowl season last year. You hardly see him out there on the field, and he bites on underneath routes that lead to deep shots against corners with no help. It led to the Scotty Miller touchdown and it led to some long passes to Mike Evans. The biggest issue with the defense today was that we struggled on third downs. They converted nearly 50% of their third downs, and it kept them on the field longer than they needed to. The defense also had 3 total hits on Brady, and no sacks. I've brought it up almost every week, but a healthy defense would have made a huge difference in that game. Some more pressure of the edge for Danielle Hunter, some pressure up the middle from Anthony Barr, and some help in coverage from Kendricks changes the entire game. Michael Pierce would help to clog up the middle and stop the run, as we allowed over 100 yards on the ground. The defense is improving week by week, and it's encouraging to see them start to play better. The lack of sacks and turnovers is something that needs to be overcome if they want to take the next step, but it will come in time. Technically we had an interception from Gladney today, it just didn't count.

It's hard to watch a team that plays so good and so bad at the same time. There's always something that isn't clicking. Today it was Dan Bailey. With where the offense is right now, and the steps I expect the defense to take next year, special teams is going to be a big question. Can we find somebody that can provide explosive returns? Can we prevent returns? Can we make kicks consistently? If we find the answers to these questions I think the team could be scary next year. Of course there will always be something else that happens to us next year, but I just want this team to realize their potential. The talent on offense is there, and the pieces are there on defense for improvement. However for this year we are now in a really tough spot. We need the Cardinals to slip up in one of their next three games, which is possible. It's even more important that the Vikings win their next three games. If they lose even one they're pretty much done. The Bears and Lions are right in the playoff picture as well, and we can't slip up against them. The toughest matchup will most likely be the Saints, but we've beaten them before. It's going to be a really tough stretch of games, but it isn't impossible yet. This Bucs loss puts us in a really tough spot, but we aren't out of it yet. In typical Vikings fashion there is still a way to find hope, even if it's fading.

As always, with cautious optimism, skol Vikings.