Meh

Not the big confidence booster I was hoping for. Vikings offense was flat, couldn't take advantage of several opportunities, and scored half as many points as they should have. This despite doing several things they typically do to generate offense in a close game, no-huddle, play action, etc.

Defense played well, but if this were Stafford I'm not sure we win. In the 1st half, the announcers said something about how the Vikings were only up 7-0 but it felt like they were up by 20. That was my feeling the whole game. Offense will have to play much better to get a win in LA next week.

I didn't get to see the game live, but just finished watching the highlights.  It didn't seem like the game was in any doubt and I think the Vikes were in cruise mode. Had they kept the heat on they could have won by 30+.

I was more impressed the D played well... a couple of picks and 5 sacks.  And no 4 TD game by Marvin Jones! ;)

it looked yesterday that KC and the O was playing not to lose,  they seemed more concerned with no turnovers than they did with moving the chains at times.  KC even said something to the effect in his post game interviews,  they didnt want to give the lions a short field and put their D in a bad position.

I will say that Linval looked ( early on at least) to be playing a bit more inspired which should really help the LB and DBs if he can keep the effort up.

A yawner, we left with 5 mins to go. Its about what I expected...They did what they had to do, we've seen these boring, divisional games a million times. I'll take the low-style win every week. 

Vikings stay alive for a dance tix, Rams and Bears in rear-view mirror.

Bear down Chicago Bears this week!! 

Cousins was efficient and didn't take too many shots downfield, except for the one to Diggs before half.  That was an important swing in the game...  the defense got a big sack to make it a longer FG, the Lions miss it, and then we score a TD with under a minute to go.

Other than that, the offense played OK.  The biggest problem I saw wasn't the passing game, it was the running game.  We didn't get any explosive runs.  Cook and Mattison each had a long run of 9 yards...  that was the biggest issue on a day where we clearly wanted the running game to put it away in the 2nd half. 

I saw at least 5 times where Kirk went Play Action, had a clean pocket, scanned the field and took the checkdown.

Folks, not having Thielen really hurts this Offense. When Diggs couldn't shake Slay, or was doubled, there just wasn't anyone else open for chunk gains.

I love Irv and really like Bisi, but they're Rookies. Treadwell is sorta similar to Bisi in that he's not going to burn you deep. They even took a shot with Hollis.

You can't double both Thielen and Diggs AND handle 3 Pass Catching TEs plus Cook. And you certainly can't keep your LBs that tight to the LOS.

Detroit,  like a lot of teams not named the Vikings, has 2 legit DTs and good enough LBs to really give the running game problems. The chunk plays just weren't there to get them to stop focusing on the run.

You can question why Stefanski called so many deep shots when they clearly weren't working. Me personally, I love it. Keeps Kirk aggressive. Keeps Diggs happy.  Keeps DCs on their toes. Keeps the team in rhythm, P which should make for a seamless integration for Adam when he comes back. 

But I also love it because Kirk doesn't force it when it's not there. Nothing wrong at all with looking deep then hitting Bisi or Rudy for 5 yards. Forcing the issue and getting intercepted too many times will only result in Zimmer putting the muzzle back on the Offense. 

I watched Shanahan running a similar scheme yesterday with WRs that aren't in the same league as Diggs and Thielen but with Kittle and lots of good weapons just annihilate the Saints.  9ers clearly have a better Line. Once Minnesota has the same caliber of Pass Protection (and 2 healthy stud WRs) plus a great RB this Offense will be near elite.

@"FSUVike" said: I saw at least 5 times where Kirk went Play Action, had a clean pocket, scanned the field and took the checkdown.

Folks, not having Thielen really hurts this Offense. When Diggs couldn't shake Slay, or was doubled, there just wasn't anyone else open for chunk gains.

I love Irv and really like Bisi, but they're Rookies. Treadwell is sorta similar to Bisi in that he's not going to burn you deep. They even took a shot with Hollis.

Absolutely...

And the fact that Cousins is having this type of season without AT? Isn't appreciated enough by the fanbase.

Rookies Bisi + Smith in no way can make up for AT...

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"FSUVike" said: I saw at least 5 times where Kirk went Play Action, had a clean pocket, scanned the field and took the checkdown.

Folks, not having Thielen really hurts this Offense. When Diggs couldn't shake Slay, or was doubled, there just wasn't anyone else open for chunk gains.

I love Irv and really like Bisi, but they're Rookies. Treadwell is sorta similar to Bisi in that he's not going to burn you deep. They even took a shot with Hollis.

Absolutely...

And the fact that Cousins is having this type of season without AT? Isn't appreciated enough by the fanbase.

Rookies Bisi + Smith in no way can make up for AT...

@"StickyBun" said:

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"FSUVike" said: I saw at least 5 times where Kirk went Play Action, had a clean pocket, scanned the field and took the checkdown.

Folks, not having Thielen really hurts this Offense. When Diggs couldn't shake Slay, or was doubled, there just wasn't anyone else open for chunk gains.

I love Irv and really like Bisi, but they're Rookies. Treadwell is sorta similar to Bisi in that he's not going to burn you deep. They even took a shot with Hollis.

Absolutely...

And the fact that Cousins is having this type of season without AT? Isn't appreciated enough by the fanbase.

Rookies Bisi + Smith in no way can make up for AT...

I hear you and FSUVike, but injuries are no excuse. Look at what San Fran did and they've got a boatload of injuries. 

@"Wetlander" said: Cousins was efficient and didn't take too many shots downfield, except for the one to Diggs before half.  That was an important swing in the game...  the defense got a big sack to make it a longer FG, the Lions miss it, and then we score a TD with under a minute to go.

Other than that, the offense played OK.  The biggest problem I saw wasn't the passing game, it was the running game.  We didn't get any explosive runs.  Cook and Mattison each had a long run of 9 yards...  that was the biggest issue on a day where we clearly wanted the running game to put it away in the 2nd half. 

While the run game was enough to win yesterday (respectable 120 yards), it's been a bit concerning for me that teams have kept the Viking RBs in check 3 of the last 4 games.  The Vikes ran all over Dallas, but were pretty much shut down against KC (98), Denver (37), Seattle (78).
This team can't lose the running attack and do much in the playoffs, IMO.  Controlling the TOP with Cook and Mattison not only helps KC's play action passes, but it will help the defense too.
We'll see what happens, but I think the next three games won't be easy.  If the Vikes make it to the playoffs, it will have to be earned. I don't think losing two of the next three is going to cut it.

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"FSUVike" said: I saw at least 5 times where Kirk went Play Action, had a clean pocket, scanned the field and took the checkdown.

Folks, not having Thielen really hurts this Offense. When Diggs couldn't shake Slay, or was doubled, there just wasn't anyone else open for chunk gains.

I love Irv and really like Bisi, but they're Rookies. Treadwell is sorta similar to Bisi in that he's not going to burn you deep. They even took a shot with Hollis.

Absolutely...

And the fact that Cousins is having this type of season without AT? Isn't appreciated enough by the fanbase.

Rookies Bisi + Smith in no way can make up for AT...

I hear you and FSUVike, but injuries are no excuse. Look at what San Fran did and they've got a boatload of injuries. 

Who's making excuses? 

The rooks are doing pretty good overall, but I'll bet they've hit that college wall too. They were non-factors in the passing game last week. Seattle had the personnel to shut them down pretty much.

@"StickyBun" said:

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"FSUVike" said: I saw at least 5 times where Kirk went Play Action, had a clean pocket, scanned the field and took the checkdown.

Folks, not having Thielen really hurts this Offense. When Diggs couldn't shake Slay, or was doubled, there just wasn't anyone else open for chunk gains.

I love Irv and really like Bisi, but they're Rookies. Treadwell is sorta similar to Bisi in that he's not going to burn you deep. They even took a shot with Hollis.

Absolutely...

And the fact that Cousins is having this type of season without AT? Isn't appreciated enough by the fanbase.

Rookies Bisi + Smith in no way can make up for AT...

I hear you and FSUVike, but injuries are no excuse. Look at what San Fran did and they've got a boatload of injuries. 

Who's making excuses? 

The rooks are doing pretty good overall, but I'll bet they've hit that college wall too. They were non-factors in the passing game last week. Seattle had the personnel to shut them down pretty much.

Vikings have done well without Thielen for sure and I fully understand they'll be better with his return. AGain, not trying to bitch too much about a 20-7 win which wasn't nearly that close. It just was a 'meh' game for me.

@"StickyBun" said:

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"FSUVike" said: I saw at least 5 times where Kirk went Play Action, had a clean pocket, scanned the field and took the checkdown.

Folks, not having Thielen really hurts this Offense. When Diggs couldn't shake Slay, or was doubled, there just wasn't anyone else open for chunk gains.

I love Irv and really like Bisi, but they're Rookies. Treadwell is sorta similar to Bisi in that he's not going to burn you deep. They even took a shot with Hollis.

Absolutely...

And the fact that Cousins is having this type of season without AT? Isn't appreciated enough by the fanbase.

Rookies Bisi + Smith in no way can make up for AT...

I hear you and FSUVike, but injuries are no excuse. Look at what San Fran did and they've got a boatload of injuries. 

@"FSUVike" said:

Folks, not having Thielen really hurts this Offense. When Diggs couldn't shake Slay, or was doubled, there just wasn't anyone else open for chunk gains.

I believe this is being
understated by a lot of people outside of the Vikings fandom because his name
isn't Thomas, Hopkins, etc.  Noting what MB wrote above that it's a different
game if Stafford had played yesterday, I think Thielen's absence has made all of
our games different.
 
Many people are saying the
passing game has been okay/decent over this time, but I tend to see it more like
the offense overall has just been trying to keep its head above water much of the time. 
Technically Thielen has now played less than half of the season so far (6 1/4
games) and since then:
- He is still tied for the team lead in receiving tds with Rudy at 6. 
- Kirk has only thrown 4 touchdowns to wide receivers.
- Cook has not broken 100 yards in a game since the one Adam was hurt.
- Cook is averaging 3.55 ypc and only accumulated 383 rushing yards (64/game). He was averaging 5.45 with 725 yards through that first Det game (104/game).

The final results/record of the games may me similar but it really felt like the offense as a whole was starting to gel and roll in weeks 4-6.  Since then it's felt rather gimpy, albeit with some pretty decent spurts here and there, but nothing has felt easy.  Hopefully Adam can actually be back this week and play nearly 100% and see if things can loosen up a bit...

  

I kinda had the same feeling, but to me it was more that the game was never in doubt.  The offense did their work in the first half, especially with the deep bomb to Diggs and scoring quickly after the missed FG. 

The D never let detroit in the game, so it lacked that normal Viking feeling of the other shoe waiting.  But it was a nice win, the D played well, 2 INTs, 5 sacks, almost a shutout.
So I guess our heart didn't just about explode, our adrenaline never amped up, so we wonder what is wrong.

@"greediron" said:

I kinda had the same feeling, but to me it was more that the game was never in doubt.  The offense did their work in the first half, especially with the deep bomb to Diggs and scoring quickly after the missed FG. 

The D never let detroit in the game, so it lacked that normal Viking feeling of the other shoe waiting.  But it was a nice win, the D played well, 2 INTs, 5 sacks, almost a shutout.
So I guess our heart didn't just about explode, our adrenaline never amped up, so we wonder what is wrong.

LMAO, maybe that was it. 

With the Vikings’ ninth win of the season secure, and last Monday’s loss to Seattle officially behind them, quarterback Kirk Cousins stepped to the podium Sunday afternoon and made an oddly candid admission.
“This was a weird one, because it felt like we couldn’t take a big step forward,” Cousins said after a 20-7 victory over Detroit at U.S. Bank Stadium. “It was either, you don’t get it done and it’s going to be a problem, or you win and you kind of shrug your shoulders and move on. We just wanted to make sure we didn’t lose that edge or that energy.”
What did he mean by that?
“You come back home, and you’re playing a team that has three wins, and there’s just kind of on the outside this assumption that, ‘Oh, they’ll win or if they don’t, then they fell short of the goal,’ ” said Cousins, who threw for 241 yards and a touchdown.
“Every win is hard to earn and every win is tough. Part of the struggles we had today on offense were because of the Lions defense doing a really good job. So you just kind of get nervous about ever letting your guard down in this league because when you do that, you get hit in the mouth.
“And fortunately, we came ready to play, but it was just something I was aware of, and going back to having a good week and doing what you need to do to not let that happen.”
In a league where players repeat truisms about being impervious to public perception and treating every game with equal importance, Cousins’ words landed as a strikingly human moment.
And yet, they showed the tightrope that is life in the NFL, where victories are not weighted and power rankings do not determine a team’s playoff fate. Whether the Vikings players, as individuals, were as charged up for a Sunday afternoon game against the Lions as a Monday night game against the Seahawks ultimately did not matter. They badly needed their ninth win, their seventh in the NFC and their second in the division, for playoff positioning.
One way or the other, they would have to get it.
Their victory, as bland as it might have been, ensured the Vikings (9-4) would avoid their first losing streak of the year by traversing circumstances that have tripped them up before (in Sept. 2018 against Buffalo) and nearly did so this year (on Nov. 18 against Denver).
They stayed within a game of the Packers — who had their own quotidian victory over Washington at home on Sunday — in the NFC North, and put themselves in position to clinch a playoff spot as soon as next week
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-handle-lions-20-7-for-ninth-victory-of-season/565947732/

Good quote by Cousins.  It was a divisional game.  Never take any NFL game for granted, especially a divisional game.

Meh! Yes. Exactly what it was supposed to be. A game with the outcome never in doubt. A game where a conservative approach was all that was necessary. 
No "you like that" moments needed. 
A nice boring win against an inferior opponent the Vikings were supposed to easily beat.
That's something that Vikings fans haven't seen enough of over the years.
Now let's see if they can do it again next week.