This is why you want the bye week

[Guest]

Go tell the Titans what a disadvantage not having the bye is.  Some teams show up to play and some don't.  We were 14-10 at the half.  We made no adjustments in the 2nd half and just ran the same plays over and over again.  Maybe our OC should have been preparing for this game instead of going on interviews.  Poor coaching and QB play is why we lost, had nothing to do with the bye.  

[Guest]

This is why you want the bye weekSaid no Titan ever!!!!

[Guest]

How is that working for the Ravens? :-)

[Guest]

We did kind of have a bye taking week 17 off at Home.

Defensively it started to become apparent we were gassed as they pounded the ball. Offensively, man... I hate what we were doing on those first few drives when the score was 7-7 and we got the ball with a chance to take the lead. I wish we'd have spread them out, had a quick strike multi-route attack, went uptempo, handed the ball of to Dalvin out of the shotgun, and eased into heavier packages and the screens. Our gameplan should have been backwards from how it was run today. I feel like we funnel ourselves into pressure situations by being overly basic and not being aggressive. Even if we were going to take some sacks early trying, at least hey; maybe we get the cracks we need to start actually establishing the stuff we ran.

Both defensive lines came in with similar accolades and reputations. Both offenses had drastically different approaches with how they read the defense, how they used formations to stress it and the playcalls they went with to attack it. San Fran looked like the team that played against Seattle at the end of the year and we unfortunately looked a lot like the team that played against Green Bay.

That's not to say the San Fran line isn't good. They just went quick rhythm around their line - it negated our rush early more than their skill level. When they picked up our blitz and had Jimmy G on an extended type drop back, they always had a shot ready. When Cousins did have time earlier in the game, our routes were a bit more... i dunno... simple? basic? I didn't really find it surprising they were getting after Cousins as we were in obvious passing situations running really intermediate-deep routes as the game got away from us. I didn't find it surprising Cousins was suddenly holding the ball either. Our route schemes have been a major weakness/blindspot since Shurmur left.

blah... rambling... i'm just disappointed we didn't have more offensively to show than that. I wish our offensive blaze of glory would have been a little more creative early on or something, i dunno...

[Guest]

I don't think a bye week changes our outcome. If it were switched and SF played a wildcard and came into Vikings Stadium when we'd had a week off, we still lose to them.

I don't hate today. It sucks, but after a playoff loss I'm usually depressed. We just lost to a better team. And I don't hate SF either, so that helps I suppose.

Having said all that, never ever ever EVER believe the Vikings will win the Super Bowl. I'll take that to my grave. We're a loser franchise, whether it's a (fairly) respectable season like this, or a heart breaker like 15-1 in '98. Enjoy the now. Enjoy that we got an extra game this year.

[Guest]

Vikings lost to a younger faster team. The old loser fogies on Vikes need replacing and probably the coaching has worn out its welcome as well.

[Guest]

@"BlackMagic7" said:
Can't disagree...

but holy shit was that offensive gameplan boring. You see all of the crazy shit they have going on presnap, the announcers can clearly explain how the passing game is drawn up. Meanwhile, we're lucky to have more than 2 guys running a fucking route. Crossing routes? Levels? Slants? Bubble screen when they don't cover anyone in our 3 WR stack? I don't get it. Everything we ran at the end of the game was missing entirely from the first 3 quarters of football. Spread them out. Throw the ball. Make them respect it enough to open up the run.

All the energy generated from a bye week may have been sapped by the offensive gameplan we rolled with...

   You mean spread them out and get sacked. What I saw at the end of the game (the beginning either, for that matter) is not what a good offense should look like.
  If you watched the game you did see what a good offense looks like. It was the 49ers offense in the 3rd quarter. 

[Guest]

Cousins was on edge yesterday from the opening snap and was mechanically off all day.  They were in his head before he ever took 1 hit.  I knew on that first pass to the training staff that he wasnt going to be the guy we saw last week.  Hunter wanted to talk about jimmy being scared.... kirk was scared.

[Guest]

How many sacks did our o-line give up? 6? How many hurries? Their d-line is impressive, our game plan/play calls fed into their strength. We really only took one decent shot down the field, and it end up in a TD. The rest of the passes were mostly bubble screens behind the line of scrimmage, which ended in little to no gain.

Offensive play calling and lack of adjustments during the game killed us. Our oline play killed Dalvin and Kirk's chances at success. Our D failed to adjust and stop the run.....the 49'ers played the game the vikings wanted to play.....run the ball successfully and stop the run and make the QB beat us......they ran it to perfection, and we stumbled......coaching is more to blame for this loss than the players. We didn't give them a game plan to succeed, and stubbornly refused to adjust to give them a chance.

[Guest]

LMAO I said we would prefer a home game and people thought they preferred the underdog label - like that is some kind of material to make the team play better.