So who's the whipping boy now?

And this is SO trueQuotable"Kirk Cousins simply cannot allow 400-plus yards on defense and expect to be considered an elite quarterback."
Those words are courtesy of Minnesota-area reporter Brian Murphy. And they do ring true, as long as you get the joke. This night was all about the Seahawks continuing their climb in the West, but we all know the headlines are coming: Cousins still winless on Monday night! And you know what? If there's one thing Vikings fans should take solace in moving forward, it's that their guy under center actually looked really good in this game. If Minnesota fails to win the division and Cousins keeps playing as he has for much of the year, it's not going to be anywhere near his fault, no matter what the critics say.

@"StickyBun" said: And this is SO trueQuotable"Kirk Cousins simply cannot allow 400-plus yards on defense and expect to be considered an elite quarterback." Those words are courtesy of Minnesota-area reporter Brian Murphy. And they do ring true, as long as you get the joke. This night was all about the Seahawks continuing their climb in the West, but we all know the headlines are coming: Cousins still winless on Monday night! And you know what? If there's one thing Vikings fans should take solace in moving forward, it's that their guy under center actually looked really good in this game. If Minnesota fails to win the division and Cousins keeps playing as he has for much of the year, it's not going to be anywhere near his fault, no matter what the critics say.

It's been said all along on KC when people talk about "his" failures at night or against winning teams.... it's a team game and he is not always to blame or in this case,  actually one of the few bright spots. 

If we had the Hags O line and D line we would have won too.  Ours is not elite.

We had no counter for their 6 man OL...that's on the coaches...

The whipping boy is now Mike Zimmer, defensive guru.

@"Norse" said:

@CourtneyRCronin	6h
Russell Wilson on why Seattle had so much success running the ball: “They kept playing 2 high shell, just super deep. They didn’t want any shots thrown on them. So we said, OK, and we’ll just run it and do what we do really well.”

176 yards and had 40:00 minutes of procession in the game.

@"comet52" said: The whipping boy is now Mike Zimmer, defensive guru.

@"1VikesFan" said:

@"StickyBun" said: And this is SO trueQuotable"Kirk Cousins simply cannot allow 400-plus yards on defense and expect to be considered an elite quarterback." Those words are courtesy of Minnesota-area reporter Brian Murphy. And they do ring true, as long as you get the joke. This night was all about the Seahawks continuing their climb in the West, but we all know the headlines are coming: Cousins still winless on Monday night! And you know what? If there's one thing Vikings fans should take solace in moving forward, it's that their guy under center actually looked really good in this game. If Minnesota fails to win the division and Cousins keeps playing as he has for much of the year, it's not going to be anywhere near his fault, no matter what the critics say.

Was saying this last night.  National media will point out that Cousins once again lost on MNF so he must be a bad QB.

@"ArizonaViking" said:

@"Norse" said:

@CourtneyRCronin	6h
Russell Wilson on why Seattle had so much success running the ball: “They kept playing 2 high shell, just super deep. They didn’t want any shots thrown on them. So we said, OK, and we’ll just run it and do what we do really well.”

176 yards and had 40:00 minutes of procession in the game.

That right there is piss-pour game planning by the coaches.  All season long stop the run, stop the run.  Then they do this.

Our offense did as good as we could hope it would, minus the TOs.  The defense was just out-personnelled. We weren't beefy enough to stop the run, mobile enough to stop Wilson from running and good enough at corner to stop Gordon and Metcalf deep all at the same time.  We stopped two of the three and hoped that our offense would play well enough to get the win.

We were good enough to keep it close, but not good enough to win, which feels about right to me.  We've been investing heavily in our offense, trying to get it figured out.  We've spent one day 1 or 2 pick in the last 3 years on defense thinking that we just got to get the offense there and the defense will be good enough.  That player is coming off an ACL injury.  I think we can beat any playoff caliber team on any given Sunday, but are we good enough to beat 4 playoff caliber teams all on the road?  That seems like a stretch to me, unless our defense turns a corner or something.

Zimmer's defensive game plan worked well in the first half...  held Seattle to 10 points.  The turning point in the game was Dalvin's fumble early in the 2nd half which gave Seattle a very short field...  defense held them to 3 points.  Then the INT (which if that was Rhodes would have been called PI and negated the turnover) gave Seattle another short field...  all of a sudden, we lose all our momentum.

I was impressed with the way the Vikings fought in this game... there is no quit in this team.  We've seen that on display the past two weeks.  I like that.  We just can't make as many mistakes as we did on the road against a good team and expect to win.  We've had close losses to Seattle, Kansas City, and Green Bay because we lost the turnover battle.

The team is very close...  if they can play a cleaner game on the road and keep Rhodes from giving up big plays in the passing game, I like our chances against anyone.

The effort was good. The team has balls, they came back. But ultimately we seem to settle for less as fans. I mean this is supposed to be a Superbowl caliber team. Last year was a shit show. This year, 8-4, which is fine but still have the kind of tough losses the team seems to produce. 

Anyway, moving on: they've got their destiny in their hands. If they piss it away, its on them completely. 

@"Ralphie" said:

@"ArizonaViking" said:

@"Norse" said:

@CourtneyRCronin	6h
Russell Wilson on why Seattle had so much success running the ball: “They kept playing 2 high shell, just super deep. They didn’t want any shots thrown on them. So we said, OK, and we’ll just run it and do what we do really well.”

176 yards and had 40:00 minutes of procession in the game.

That right there is piss-pour game planning by the coaches.  All season long stop the run, stop the run.  Then they do this.

When your secondary gets scorched by the Cowboys and Broncos, you get what you saw last night.  But the fact remains, except for Joseph, we don't have any bulk up front at the DT position to stop the run.  And Wilson is too mobile to let any DE pressure get to him.  The Hags didn't need to pass with the holes Carson and Penny had.

The Viking defense isn't what it was a few years ago, and needs rebuilding.  Why does the run D get worse when Joseph returns?  Is that Zimmer's fault, or is it the players just don't make plays?  I'm not sure, but I see an aging DL and issues with DBs; especially Rhodes.
The Vikes fought their way back, but the offense wasn't that great either.  Three of the last four teams they've played have shut down Cook and the running game.  When the offense can't run, it makes the play action not work.  Are defenses starting to figure out our running game? 
I was glad to see the Vikes claw back in it, but the better team won.  Seattle played better on both sides of the ball, and earned the win.
Not too late to improve, but this time of year I kind of think what you see, is what you get.  The Vikes are a good team, but not elite.

@"HappyViking" said:

The Viking defense isn't what it was a few years ago, and needs rebuilding.  Why does the run D get worse when Joseph returns?  Is that Zimmer's fault, or is it the players just don't make plays?  I'm not sure, but I see an aging DL and issues with DBs; especially Rhodes. The Vikes fought their way back, but the offense wasn't that great either.  Three of the last four teams they've played have shut down Cook and the running game.  When the offense can't run, it makes the play action not work.  Are defenses starting to figure out our running game?  I was glad to see the Vikes claw back in it, but the better team won.  Seattle played better on both sides of the ball, and earned the win. Not too late to improve, but this time of year I kind of think what you see, is what you get.  The Vikes are a good team, but not elite.

Barr has never been stout in run support in the middle,  but this year he is flat footed and continuously late to the party,   the linemen are getting to him at the second level without him shortening the space at all... he is basically saying heres a free 3-5 yards if its his gap they run into.

At this point, a convincing argument could be made that Cousins is the best player on this team.

@"ArizonaViking" said:

@"Norse" said:

@CourtneyRCronin	6h
Russell Wilson on why Seattle had so much success running the ball: “They kept playing 2 high shell, just super deep. They didn’t want any shots thrown on them. So we said, OK, and we’ll just run it and do what we do really well.”

176 yards and had 40:00 minutes of procession in the game.

That right there is piss-pour game planning by the coaches.  All season long stop the run, stop the run.  Then they do this.

I'm getting bored with NFL - this outcome was so predictable. Gotta give Vegas credit with the line as close as it was, I thought they were way off.

Team showed resiliency and the HC deserves credit for that, players too. 

Defense has been a problem for a while - lots of $$ over there and big knockers getting older. 3T would help with much, but not all. Time to re-boot that in a hurry - while KC, Diggs, AT and Cook are here and in their primes. 

From the Strib:
The better question might be whether the defense as a whole will show up when the Vikings need it. This group imploded during a must-win finale against the Bears last year, and this season gave up 26 points to a no-name backup quarterback in Kansas City; got shredded in a first half against a Broncos backup; and on Monday night gave up 37 points after preparing for two weeks.