SOMEONE CALL MY CARDIOLOGIST!

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This was one of the more winnable games on the schedule, so it is concerning.

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That was probably the most fun i've had watching a Viking game. Went to a Viking bar with my son. His first experience in the mad house that is the Cap City Tavern. 

Frustrating result tho. Even more frustrating how it happened. Can't help but wonder if Browning made an impact here. Bengals seemed to know what we were going to do before we did it. I haven't heard anything about Xs and Os and I wasn't able to hear the audio in the loud bar, but I'm guessing the Bengals played cover 3 or something designed to take away all routes past 15 yards? Did Cousins throw a pass past 20 yards? If he did I don't recall it. 

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Does the requested Cardiologist moon light as a Proctologist?  

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Viewed through how horribly they fared at what might be football's most essential task — gaining 10 yards and a new set of downs — the fact the Vikings were close to pulling out a win in Cincinnati on Sunday might register as a bit of a shock.
It's probably also not something they have any interest in repeating.
Teams talk of keeping their offenses "on schedule" or playing "ahead of the sticks," two phrases that essentially mean the same thing: gaining enough yards on early downs that third-down conversions become manageable and drives continue toward the end zone. By that measure, the Vikings' performance was one of their worst in the modern NFL era.
In Sunday's 27-24 overtime loss to the Bengals, the Vikings faced nine third downs of 10 yards or more, and six of at least 15 yards, their most in a game since Pro Football Reference began compiling play-by-play data in 1994.

“We know what kind of guys we have. We know what kind of playmakers we have. It's just playing clean football. That's every team is going to say the same thing when they lose games. You have to play clean football, because that's what loses games.”

Adam Thielen

It reduced the number of plays available to offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak in his first regular season game, limiting his ability to turn to Dalvin Cook for conversions. It allowed the Bengals to turn up their pressure on Kirk Cousins (two of Cincinnati's three sacks came on downs of third-and-10 or longer), and it often forced the Vikings into positions where they threw well short of the sticks, either hoping someone could create a big play or simply attempting to recoup some yardage before punting.
Cousins averaged just 6.1 air yards per attempt, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
"It just has you play a little different game," Cousins said. "Your call sheet and what you're pulling from is a lot different when you're looking at long-yardage situations on first and second down and never ahead of the chains, so that was certainly an aspect into some of the struggles we had."
Improbably, the Vikings finished the day with a higher percentage of third-down conversions (37.5) than did the Bengals (21.4), despite the fact Cincinnati needed six yards or fewer on 10 of its 14 attempts. The Vikings' defense had stops on six straight third downs in the fourth quarter and overtime, though the last stop came before the Bengals' 32-yard fourth-down conversion that set up Evan McPherson's game-winning field goal.
The fact that the Vikings picked up three third downs of eight yards or longer could be treated as a bit of a silver lining. That, at least, seemed to be how wide receiver Adam Thielen was looking at it.

"To be honest, I thought Coach [Kubiak] did a great job calling plays. We had some really tough situations that we converted on," Thielen said. "We just kept putting ourselves in those situations. Coach did a great job. But as players, the play's called, it doesn't matter what it is, we've got to go out and execute. That was kind of the message. Dalvin said it at halftime, 'Hey. I don't care what's called. Let's go out and execute and let's play clean football.' That's kind of what we were able to do a little bit there in the second half."
As Thielen said, though, the pattern is crippling for an offense, and it's particularly concerning for the Vikings how many of the third downs were set up by their own issues.
On 14 first-down runs, the Vikings gained just 20 yards, with six of Dalvin Cook's carries going for no gain or losing yardage. One of those six was a play that lost a yard before Oli Udoh committed a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty. The Vikings were flagged a total of four times on first downs, and gave up a nine-yard sack on a first down when the pocket collapsed on Cousins.
Their staggering number of penalties — 11 accepted against the offense, including nine in the first half — and their first-down ineptitude actually meant their second-down workload (20 plays with 10 or more yards to go, and seven plays with 15-plus to go) might have been more harsh than third.
The biggest issue for the Vikings might be if the things that contributed to Sunday's inefficiency — penalties, sacks and unproductive first-down runs — are all products of their retooled offensive line. Each member of the group was penalized at least once on Sunday, Garrett Bradbury and Ezra Cleveland were beaten for sacks. and Cook got just 18 of his 61 yards before contact on Sunday, according to Pro Football Focus. Other than Christian Darrisaw returning from groin surgery to take the left tackle job (which coach Mike Zimmer said could be a ways away) or Wyatt Davis developing enough he can start at right guard and Udoh can move to left tackle, the only obvious fix is the group improving throughout the season.
Next Sunday's trip to Arizona puts the Vikings in a matchup with Chandler Jones (who had five sacks against Tennessee on Sunday), J.J. Watt and a defense that bottled up Titans star Derrick Henry. It's not the ideal matchup for a more efficient offensive performance, and the Cardinals' offensive firepower could set up a long day if the Vikings can't emerge from their doldrums.
"We know what kind of team we have," Thielen said. "We know what kind of guys we have. We know what kind of playmakers we have. It's just playing clean football. That's every team is going to say the same thing when they lose games. You have to play clean football, because that's what loses games."
https://www.startribune.com/vikings-beng...600096692/

[Guest]

14 first down runs lol. I called out the first down runs yesterday as bad play calling (3 straight in OT), but I had no idea there were 14 of them. That is a giant yikes. Many articles and stats have come out about how first down runs aren’t effective, especially the more often they’re done. This is something the Vikings can and should change immediately.