On Monday night football, the Vikings lost 23-7 to the New York Giants. I thought we hit the bottom when this team lost to the Browns after they lost Richardson. I thought maybe being blown out by the Panthers coming out of a bye was inexcusable. Somehow though, the Vikings managed to top all of that Monday night, in one of the worst disasters the American public has ever been subjected to in prime time. This battle of teams that were a combined 1-10 didn't look like that kind of game. It looked worse. These teams looked like they each had negative wins. The Vikings thought that they needed to give Josh Freeman a shot to see if he was their quarterback of the future. Obviously you can't make that call after only one game, but the early returns aren't even close to good. Freeman could not hit a pass to save his life, and the same problems that Freeman showed on the field in Tampa seemed evident on the field against the Giants. The Vikings scored no offensive touchdowns, only scoring with a Marcus Sherels punt return. You would think then that at least special teams was a bright spot for the Vikings, but they also lost two fumbles on special teams returns. Did this defense play horrendous? No, but do you really give them that much credit for shutting down a Giants' team starting Peyton Hillis off the street at running back? I can't. I wrote that the Browns game was the kind of game that gets coaches fired, but then what does this kind of game do, when you show no positive signs in a game against a winless team that surrendered over 30 points in five contests already this season? If you can't tell, I'm sad right now. If you're a Vikings fan, you should be sad. You know who scored more points than the Vikings on offense this week? The Jaguars. And you know who we play next week? The Green Bay Packers. There might not be a worse day to be a Vikings fan than October 21st, 2013. I thought this team would take a step back this year. I didn't mean a step back from 2011.
Offense: F
Normally I go into specifics in this section, going position group by position group. That seems impossible to do this time around, that's unfair to these receivers and Adrian Peterson. Josh Freeman only completed 38% of his passes, and most of his passes weren't even near their intended targets. Freeman attempted 53 passes, and those passes resulted in only 190 yards. Freeman overthrew 15 of his passes in a game, an NFL record. The Giants' defense geared up to stop Adrian Peterson, and that they did, stuffing AP for only 28 yards on 13 carries. The offensive line could give Peterson no push up front, constantly losing the battle at the line of scrimmage and were dominated by one of the weakest defensive lines in the NFL. Freeman had few clean pockets, and was moving around all night trying to avoid pressure. So, the offensive line didn't play, and Freeman couldn't get close to his receivers. And even when he did, sometimes his receivers couldn't even come up with it, as Jerome Simpson dropped a perfect deep ball in the end zone. That's before even factoring the coaching. How do you pass 53 times and run with Adrian Peterson only 13 when you're starting a new quarterback? Don't you want to take pressure off the new guy? Someone explain that strategy to me, because it's way over my head. So, essentially, there were no bright spots on this offense tonight. None. Whatsoever. Wow.
Defense: C
This defense gave up 23 points on 14 drives Monday night. Seven of those points came when the Giants started a drive on the Vikings' three yard line after a special teams' fumble. That's not a bad defensive performance by any means. The Vikings didn't abuse the Giants, but they gave this offense the ball more than enough to try to let them make plays. They failed to do so. However, the defense still can't get off scot free for this performance because they still missed opportunities. Interceptions were dropped, including on the opening drive by Andrew Sendejo and a sure pick six later in the game by Marcus Sherels. The Giants had two drives eat up almost a quarter of the game clock because the defense couldn't get off the field occasionally when Eli Manning decided to be accurate. The front four still failed to generate pressure, meaning Vikings had to blitz far more often than they should have, especially because the Giants' offensive line is one of the worst in the league. The stats will say the defense played admirably, but they left enough plays on the field where they actually could have pushed the Vikings to an ugly win tonight, but they couldn't do it.
Special Teams: C
The Vikings had a punt return for a touchdown. They fumbled on a return. Cordarrelle Patterson took a kickoff 69 yards to the Giants' 40 yard line. The Vikings' fumbled another kickoff. Jeff Locke had several nice punts. Blair Walsh missed his first field goal beyond 50 yards. It was an extremely inconsistent night from Mike Prifer's unit, who in addition to the above highlights also caused a fumble on a punt return. The Vikings decided to give that great field position away however, when Freeman threw an interception a few plays later. The special teams' unit continues to be a roller coaster ride, even though it looked at the beginning of the game like this might be the one unit that could provide hope for this team. It didn't happen.
Coaching: F
Leslie Fraizer and this staff really want to be unemployed before the season is over. The only way they might make it to the end of December is the simple fact that no one on this staff may be capable of stepping in to handle head coaching duties if Fraizer leaves. Both coordinators will end up leaving with Frazier, neither one is going to be considered for the head coaching job. Does Zygi Wilf like George Stewart enough to give him the reigns of this team for the rest of the season? How am I asking that question when it's still October a year after we reached the playoffs?
And that's all I'm going to say about that. Go home and hug your loved ones.
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