Not a bad job by Stefanski today...

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The Vikings’ decision to fire offensive coordinator John DeFilippo — timed between the team’s third road loss in four weeks to a likely playoff team and a home matchup against Miami’s porous defense — created a favorable runway for Stefanski, who called plays for the first time in the NFL on Sunday.
Stefanski, who joined the Vikings on Brad Childress’ staff in 2006 and has been with the team since, seemed in line for the job after the New York Giants hired Pat Shurmur. The Vikings passed him over for DeFilippo, then blocked him from taking the Giants’ offensive coordinator job.
On the first day of what amounts to a three-game audition for the permanent job, Stefanski won praise from players for a cogent game plan that drew on his experiences with previous staffs.
“He saw what they did well. Maybe what they didn’t do so well. What he’d do when it was his turn,” tight end Kyle Rudolph said. “You saw that throughout the week with little changes. He didn’t come in and overhaul everything, but there were some things we did a little bit differently this week you could tell Kevin had been waiting for his opportunity to do this. I think he learned a lot of things last year from this offense — what Pat did with this offense that we got back to today and had success with.”
He put Cousins back under center more often, creating what Zimmer said were better fakes on play-action and allowing Dalvin Cook — who gained 136 yards on 19 carries — to hit the line of scrimmage with a full head of steam.
And as the Vikings raced out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead behind 97 rushing yards from Cook and Latavius Murray against the Dolphins’ 29th-ranked run defense, everything appeared aligned to vindicate the move.
http://www.startribune.com/relentless-vi...502883931/

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@StickyBun said:

@MaroonBells said:

@StickyBun said:
Glad for the win....glad the team has control of their playoff destiny. But games against Detroit and then Chicago to end the year could really put the coal in the Viking's stocking for Christmas. I just don't trust this offense. The Bills beating Detroit should take the wind out of their sails, but who knows? And Chicago is really looking very solid. They ran because Miami stinks at stopping the run and they had several injuries as the game went on. 

Let's not forget that when we played them no one was worse against the run than the Seahawks. Patriots were near the bottom as well. This is not about suddenly getting a bad run defense. 

Miami has 11 guys on IR.

 only 4 of them are on defense,  which would be the only side of the ball pertinent to this topic,  and I dont even know if they were supposed to be starters or not.  ( i dont follow the fish...at all.)

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Bottom line is we should've been running the ball better all season. Especially against the Patriots and Seahawks, two of the worst run defenses in the NFL. The fact that we were able to against the Dolphins is about more than just a bad run defense (a better run defense than our previous two opponents), and it was about more than just choosing to. Stefanski's opening script was brillliant. After that, he struggled a bit, but was able to finish strong. It was that finish, after the Dolphins adjusted, that was most impressive to me. 

Lions are a much better run defense than either of our last three opponents, especially with Snacks clogging up the middle, so that will be a good test. 

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@MaroonBells said:

@StickyBun said:
Glad for the win....glad the team has control of their playoff destiny. But games against Detroit and then Chicago to end the year could really put the coal in the Viking's stocking for Christmas. I just don't trust this offense. The Bills beating Detroit should take the wind out of their sails, but who knows? And Chicago is really looking very solid. They ran because Miami stinks at stopping the run and they had several injuries as the game went on. 

Let's not forget that when we played them no one was worse against the run than the Seahawks. Patriots were near the bottom as well. This is not about suddenly getting a bad run defense. 

Good point.  Cook was showing signs of running really well lately, averaging around 9 yards per carry against the Lions and then the Patriots.  The problem was that he only averaged around 9 or 10 carries per game under Flip.

Plus I was so glad to see the Vikings move away from running out of the shotgun constantly, which caused our RBs to be hit behind the LOS almost every time.

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@ThunderGod said:

@MarkSP18 said:

Vikings ran the ball 40 times and passed it 21 times.  I would not say they was balance.
I will say that the terrible Dolphins defense is just what the doctor ordered.
Now, all of a sudden, the new OC is magically calling better plays than the old OC.  OK.
I think it is more about the line being able to block a not so good Dolphins defense more than anything else.
But that kind of thinking is contrary to the popular narrative of kicking JDF when he is down.
We shall see how this offensive line and "new balance" on offense does in week 17 when they play the Bears again and have to block Hicks and Mack.
Last time they played they got their arses whupped.
Happy for the win though.

Don't count on the Bears game being a true test either.  With the division locked up, the Bears resting their players, I expect their won't be the fire in the Bears eyes like before.  Sure, they will play for "pride" but it won't be a true test against a winning team.

With the Rams losing against Eagles it most likely ensured they will play for a first round BYE even though the chances are slim the Rams lose one of the next 2 games.