Vikies vs Lions: Must win @ game #5?

[purplefaithful]

The schedule gets very hard after Sunday's matchup with Detroit, the kind of game that good teams should be able to put away.
The Vikings finish their only homestand of the 2021 season on Sunday against the winless Lions, in what could be an oasis between a 1-3 start and a six-game blur that defines their season.

Though the Vikings are the only NFC North team to outscore their opponents through the first four games of the season, they are 1-3 after a trio of one-score losses, trailing the Packers by two games in the division as coach Mike Zimmer continues to say his team is close to a turnaround.
While a matchup with the Lions in Week 5 might not seem like a must-win game, here are four reasons it's pretty close.
1. It's a chance for correction
Though the Vikings have talked frequently about how close they are to being 3-1 or 4-0, they're sitting at 1-3 because of some repeated mistakes: offensive penalties that have made it difficult to continue drives, defensive lapses at the end of the first half and a lack of offensive production in the second half.
The Lions will be the first team the Vikings have played with a losing record, and Detroit is missing enough starters that Sunday could be a more forgiving environment for the Vikings to develop some consistency, build some confidence and gain some momentum heading into a difficult stretch of the schedule. It's also a home game for a team that's never lost more than twice at home in playoff seasons under Zimmer.
Put simply, it's the kind of game that good teams should be able to put away.
https://www.startribune.com/four-reasons...600105132/

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2. The playoff path might lead North
The Vikings trail Green Bay by two games in the division, but the Packers have four of their next five on the road, including a game with Cincinnati on Sunday and back-to-back games at Arizona and Kansas City at the end of the stretch. Green Bay is also dealing with injuries to key defenders like Za'Darius Smith and Jaire Alexander, after a year that began with tension over Aaron Rodgers' possible departure.
Chicago is 2-2 but could go through lapses while turning things over to rookie quarterback Justin Fields, and the Lions are 0-4. There's enough instability in the division that the Vikings might have an opportunity to challenge for the North title if the Packers slip — provided they can win their division games like they did last year, when they went 4-2 against NFC North opponents.
3. The schedule gets tougher
A victory Sunday would put the Vikings at 2-3 before the most grueling stretch of their schedule; a loss would put them in a 1-4 hole that might be too difficult to escape.
Next weekend, the Vikings travel to Charlotte, N.C., to face the 3-1 Panthers. Then it's a bye week, followed by a Halloween night game at home against the 3-1 Cowboys and a November schedule with three road games. The Ravens (3-1) are up first on Nov. 7, followed by the Chargers (3-1) on Nov. 14. The Vikings return home to face the Packers (3-1) on Nov. 21, and then make another trip to the West Coast to take on the 49ers (2-2) on Nov. 28.
Road teams are 34-31 this season, so the Vikings keeping their season afloat while they are away from U.S. Bank Stadium isn't out of the question. But they would have to handle back-to-back games on opposite coasts, the two aforementioned West Coast trips and a four-week stretch against Dak Prescott, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert and Rodgers.
A victory Sunday, and a split in the six-game stretch, would mean the Vikings are 5-6 heading into a December/January schedule that includes four division games. A loss on Sunday, and a 1-4 record to start the stretch, would force the Vikings to get hot right as their schedule gets toughest.
4. The stakes are high in the organization
Coming off a season when the Vikings started 1-5, finished 7-9 and lost a December home game to the Bears that ultimately cost them a playoff spot, the team signed a handful of veterans to one-year contracts, while restructuring deals for Danielle Hunter and Anthony Barr that essentially trigger decisions on both players after this year.
The way the 2021 Vikings are built, coupled with the implications a second consecutive losing season could have on the futures of General Manager Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer, means a reset might be coming if the team can't work its way into the NFC playoff race.

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Eight key Vikings defenders — Everson Griffen, Stephen Weatherly, Barr, Nick Vigil, Patrick Peterson, Bashaud Breeland, Xavier Woods and Mackensie Alexander — are scheduled to be free agents in March, while the Vikings added an $18 million roster bonus to Hunter's deal that will essentially force them to extend the defensive end's deal or trade him. Cousins has a $45 million salary cap figure in 2022, and the Vikings would only have to absorb $10 million of the deal next year if they traded him.
Losses in games like Sunday's could push the Vikings closer to some difficult decisions, particularly with the trade deadline looming on Nov. 2.
There are obvious caveats here: The NFL's decision to add a 17th regular-season game means the Vikings have 13 games left, not 12, to rebound from their 1-3 start. And while the 2008 Vikings remain the only team in franchise history to make the playoffs after starting 1-3, the league adding a seventh playoff team to each conference means the 2020 Vikings would have come back from a 1-5 record to reach the postseason if they had beaten the Bears at home last December.
But as the Vikings wrap up a three-game run at home with an inviting division game on their schedule, no one within the organization is interested in making the job any more difficult than it's been through four weeks.

[Guest]

Greg Coleman has been involved with the Vikings most of his adult life. 
After a distinguished career as a punter and holder with them, Coleman has spent more than two decades as a sideline reporter for the team’s radio network. 
His pregame remarks and postgame interviews are highlights of every broadcast. 
Coleman knows the Vikings as well as anyone, and the Pioneer Press chatted with him about what he has seen through four games and a 1-3 record. 

I think they’re a team that’s on the cusp of either moving forward or taking three steps back. When you’re so close and you don’t find a way to win, it could become a habit. That could either be a positive habit or one that’s negative. 
Now, hopefully, they’ll get some other players back from injuries — and a healthy Dalvin Cook. Maybe even our first taste of Christian Darrisaw. Maybe even a taste of Anthony Barr. That would be a shot in the arm for any team. 
It doesn’t hurt you that you’re playing the Detroit Lions. That’s not to say that it’s a cakewalk or a pushover, because as you well know, on any given Sunday, somebody can jump up and bite you in the hind parts. 
This team is loaded with talent. It’s loaded with potential. That’s what makes it so disappointing. You say you’re one, two, three plays away from being 3-1 or 4-0. Well, the good teams find a way to win. You don’t want to get into a place where the habits that you’re creating, you’re always coming up one or two plays short.
To beat Detroit, they need to duplicate what they did and how they played against Seattle. Because Seattle, one of the upper-echelon teams in the National Football League, with Russell Wilson and that defense, the Vikings dominated the game. 
They dominated the second half. Although they didn’t score touchdowns, they dominated the time of possession and they kept the ball out of Russell’s hand. When he got the ball, they beat him up pretty good. They put the pressure on him. That kind of pressure is going to be needed against the Detroit Lions. Now, don’t get me wrong, Detroit has some players that are pretty darn good, but collectively they’re not there yet. 
You need to kick a team when it’s down. As my old coach down at Florida A & M, Jake Gaither, used to say, kill a mosquito with an ax. That’s what they’ve got to do for Detroit. 
I will try and paraphrase what Mike Zimmer said after the Arizona loss. Yes, the kick did not win the game, but we had opportunities to put that game away early in the third quarter, early in the fourth quarter, and didn’t. The same thing happened in Cincinnati. You had an opportunity to put a team away — and you didn’t. Zim always talks about being able to finish. That’s what this team has not been able to do. They finished pretty good against Seattle. That’s a telltale sign. 
When you have an opportunity to put a team away with touchdowns instead of field goals (you do it), because sometimes those field goals are going to come back and bite you in the hind parts. But this team, the team last year, when you have those opportunities to finish, you have got to finish because those create habits. 
You talk about when preparation meets opportunity, it’s going to equal success. Well, how do you know you’re totally prepared because, let’s face it, this is just the way that the National Football League is: They don’t practice hard. They don’t hit any more during the course of the week. You hope that you can duplicate what you did in practice against another team. It’s hard to do. It’s hard to do because you can’t simulate. There’s nothing that takes the place of hitting. 
It’s hard to say (if Zimmer’s job is safe). I think if they turn this thing around, he’ll be OK. But let’s face it, you have an ownership who will say that we have given you everything you have asked for for years on offense, defense, special teams, what else do you want? Like Bud said, when you don’t win, changes are made. It depends on how much tolerance they have. But again, they are so close. They are so close to really turning this thing around. 
They’ve had a hell of an investment, not only in the team, but in the TCO Performance Center, they’ve got the top of the line in everything in equipment and you name it. The practice facility is second to none. U.S. Bank Stadium is the cat’s meow in the National Football League. They have had an outlay of cash in their investment and they want to see a return. They probably want to see that return on investment pretty soon. 
Kirk Cousins? I hope you can understand what I’m about to say. I am a guy for whoever’s in the purple uniform — whether it’s Kirk Cousins, Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater, whomever is under center — that’s who I’m for, because there ain’t many great quarterbacks out on the street. You have to ride the horse that you brought to the dance. 
Absolutely, the first three weeks, Kirk played phenomenal. This past week, I think, was a game of chess. It was grasshopper (Kevin Stefanski) against sensei (Zimmer). I think grasshopper played a few moves, chess moves, where he took your bishop, he took your queen, and then you had to crown him because it was a game of chess. There were a lot of people on the other side of the field that were very, very familiar with the players of Minnesota, with the systems of Minnesota, with the mentality of Minnesota. I think they used that to their advantage.
https://www.twincities.com/2021/10/08/vi...ng-sunday/