Post by Funkytown on Dec 14, 2020 7:53:15 GMT -6
After walking off the field for the final time, Kirk Cousins put his helmet down and swapped it for a gray hat. He curled up his arms and yelled, not at anyone in particular, but at a dysfunctional day that began with so much promise.
He knew what this 26-14 loss at Tampa Bay meant for the Vikings, how their path to the playoffs shrinks drastically, and how they’re bounced out of the current postseason bracket with a 6-7 record that hasn’t climbed above .500 once all season. He knew they’d wasted a golden opportunity to significantly up their playoff probabilities. He knew it wasn’t entirely on one player even if it felt that way. And, dammit, he knew how familiar it felt.
The Vikings often have stretches against good teams that make you believe they’ve put it all together. Maybe they can make something happen in the playoffs. Then they deal with a series of self-inflicted mistakes that pair frequently with a few questionable calls from the referees. Oh, and the special-teams struggles.
It’s left the Vikings in NFL purgatory, good enough to dangle hope of a playoff run, but bad enough to never take advantage of the opportunities that would more easily get them in there.
On this Sunday, the kicking game was so brutal that it never really felt like the Vikings had a chance at a second-half comeback. What started with an off game from their kicker a week ago turned into a full-on meltdown in their most important game of the season. Dan Bailey professed confidence during the week. Sure, he missed three kicks against the Jaguars. But he’s one of the most accurate kickers in league history. It wouldn’t continue. Besides, he said, he had a good week of practice. Mike Zimmer believed it too. He’s an old-school coach without tolerance for missed kicks, but he respects what Bailey has accomplished over a decade in the NFL, and if the kicker thought it was one bad game, then so be it.
But it wasn’t. By the end of Sunday, it was hard to watch. After Bailey’s final miss, one of four, he took the slow walk back to the sideline alone. His past success doesn’t matter. His strong start to the season doesn’t matter. As this franchise knows perhaps better than any other, when kickers lose their confidence, they don’t typically turn it around in a few days.
A fan base that’s dealt with ample heartbreak because of the position had to watch Bailey trotted out four times, only to miss three field goals and an extra point, wiping 10 points off the board. He’ll probably be cut this week after his misses Sunday made the difficult task of upsetting the Buccaneers on the road exponentially harder.
Zimmer’s never going to be confused with a coddler of kickers. He is, after all, the same coach who said, “Did you see the game?” when asked about Daniel Carlson’s release two years ago. And he said Sunday afternoon, “At this point, we’re not really worried about feelings anymore” when asked about how he’ll handle Bailey and his confidence.
Yet Zimmer was also the one who stressed the reality that the Vikings made several mistakes in Sunday’s loss. The offensive line allowed six sacks on Cousins, tied for the most in his career. The defensive line got little pressure. Two gaffes (slash questionable calls) led to 10 Buccaneers points when referees whistled Jeff Gladney for defensive pass interference in the end zone and Todd Davis for the same infraction on a Hail Mary attempt.
“If you guys want me to fire guys for making a mistake here, a mistake there, then we wouldn’t have any players,” Zimmer said when asked a seventh question about Bailey. “Let’s not put this all on Dan Bailey.”
That’s fair. But it is troubling how eerily similar this game was to so many others. The Vikings were good enough to play a tight game against the Seattle Seahawks but made just enough errors to lose. They were good enough to play the Tennessee Titans close, but not good enough to beat them. Their one win this season against a team with a .500 record or better was against the Green Bay Packers on a day 30 mph wind gusts limited what Aaron Rodgers could do through the air.
Now, they may have to run the table in their final three games to get into the playoffs. That’s partly because of the kicker curse that seems to hang over this franchise. Bailey has missed four straight field goals and three straight extra points dating back to last week. It’s hard to win with that. But it’s also because the rest of the team hasn’t played well enough.
Even when the defense has a good game, which they did at Tampa Bay, they make a mistake that lets Tom Brady heave a 48-yard touchdown pass to a receiver in single coverage. They have an interception wiped off the board because of a penalty. And the offense, for all of their success, couldn’t keep Cousins upright.
Had those plays gone differently, had Bailey done his job, had any number of small things gone better for the Vikings, their playoff path would be clear. This was a game against one of the teams they’re competing with for a wild-card spot. And yet, they continued to shoot themselves in the foot in the biggest game of the season. By the time the fourth quarter arrived, Bailey’s struggles felt like they deflated the rest of the team.
“It does let a little bit of air out,” Zimmer said. “You anticipate guys making those kicks.”
Now, the Vikings need help just to have a chance. They need an Arizona Cardinals team that beat the Giants by 19 points Sunday to slip up somewhere. They need to win the games remaining on their schedule. And they probably need a new kicker.
Maybe this ends up as a fitting end for the season. Maybe it’s only right that they beat up on bad teams (for the most part), play well against good teams (for the most part), and watch special teams implode the progress made elsewhere.
Bailey stood alone on the sideline in the waning moments, hands on his shoulder pads and with a mask covering his expression. His performance is just another chapter in a long story of misery from Vikings kickers. But it’s no less painful.
The Vikings could have put themselves on the doorstep of another postseason appearance. Instead, they’ve shown over and over that they’re a mediocre team, a fact only ignored because of an added wild-card spot that has kept the Vikings in the mix into mid-December.
Maybe they’ll run the table and this loss won’t feel quite so significant. Maybe they’ll somehow improve their kicking game. But for now, it seems like yet another game in which the Vikings have gotten in their own way.
“I’m really disappointed,” Zimmer said, faced with the question of whether Bailey can turn this around. “I have a lot of faith in him, I have a lot of confidence in him. But these last two weeks have not been good. I love the kid, he’s a great kid, he’s very even-natured. I don’t know.”
He knew what this 26-14 loss at Tampa Bay meant for the Vikings, how their path to the playoffs shrinks drastically, and how they’re bounced out of the current postseason bracket with a 6-7 record that hasn’t climbed above .500 once all season. He knew they’d wasted a golden opportunity to significantly up their playoff probabilities. He knew it wasn’t entirely on one player even if it felt that way. And, dammit, he knew how familiar it felt.
The Vikings often have stretches against good teams that make you believe they’ve put it all together. Maybe they can make something happen in the playoffs. Then they deal with a series of self-inflicted mistakes that pair frequently with a few questionable calls from the referees. Oh, and the special-teams struggles.
It’s left the Vikings in NFL purgatory, good enough to dangle hope of a playoff run, but bad enough to never take advantage of the opportunities that would more easily get them in there.
On this Sunday, the kicking game was so brutal that it never really felt like the Vikings had a chance at a second-half comeback. What started with an off game from their kicker a week ago turned into a full-on meltdown in their most important game of the season. Dan Bailey professed confidence during the week. Sure, he missed three kicks against the Jaguars. But he’s one of the most accurate kickers in league history. It wouldn’t continue. Besides, he said, he had a good week of practice. Mike Zimmer believed it too. He’s an old-school coach without tolerance for missed kicks, but he respects what Bailey has accomplished over a decade in the NFL, and if the kicker thought it was one bad game, then so be it.
But it wasn’t. By the end of Sunday, it was hard to watch. After Bailey’s final miss, one of four, he took the slow walk back to the sideline alone. His past success doesn’t matter. His strong start to the season doesn’t matter. As this franchise knows perhaps better than any other, when kickers lose their confidence, they don’t typically turn it around in a few days.
A fan base that’s dealt with ample heartbreak because of the position had to watch Bailey trotted out four times, only to miss three field goals and an extra point, wiping 10 points off the board. He’ll probably be cut this week after his misses Sunday made the difficult task of upsetting the Buccaneers on the road exponentially harder.
Zimmer’s never going to be confused with a coddler of kickers. He is, after all, the same coach who said, “Did you see the game?” when asked about Daniel Carlson’s release two years ago. And he said Sunday afternoon, “At this point, we’re not really worried about feelings anymore” when asked about how he’ll handle Bailey and his confidence.
Yet Zimmer was also the one who stressed the reality that the Vikings made several mistakes in Sunday’s loss. The offensive line allowed six sacks on Cousins, tied for the most in his career. The defensive line got little pressure. Two gaffes (slash questionable calls) led to 10 Buccaneers points when referees whistled Jeff Gladney for defensive pass interference in the end zone and Todd Davis for the same infraction on a Hail Mary attempt.
“If you guys want me to fire guys for making a mistake here, a mistake there, then we wouldn’t have any players,” Zimmer said when asked a seventh question about Bailey. “Let’s not put this all on Dan Bailey.”
That’s fair. But it is troubling how eerily similar this game was to so many others. The Vikings were good enough to play a tight game against the Seattle Seahawks but made just enough errors to lose. They were good enough to play the Tennessee Titans close, but not good enough to beat them. Their one win this season against a team with a .500 record or better was against the Green Bay Packers on a day 30 mph wind gusts limited what Aaron Rodgers could do through the air.
Now, they may have to run the table in their final three games to get into the playoffs. That’s partly because of the kicker curse that seems to hang over this franchise. Bailey has missed four straight field goals and three straight extra points dating back to last week. It’s hard to win with that. But it’s also because the rest of the team hasn’t played well enough.
Even when the defense has a good game, which they did at Tampa Bay, they make a mistake that lets Tom Brady heave a 48-yard touchdown pass to a receiver in single coverage. They have an interception wiped off the board because of a penalty. And the offense, for all of their success, couldn’t keep Cousins upright.
Had those plays gone differently, had Bailey done his job, had any number of small things gone better for the Vikings, their playoff path would be clear. This was a game against one of the teams they’re competing with for a wild-card spot. And yet, they continued to shoot themselves in the foot in the biggest game of the season. By the time the fourth quarter arrived, Bailey’s struggles felt like they deflated the rest of the team.
“It does let a little bit of air out,” Zimmer said. “You anticipate guys making those kicks.”
Now, the Vikings need help just to have a chance. They need an Arizona Cardinals team that beat the Giants by 19 points Sunday to slip up somewhere. They need to win the games remaining on their schedule. And they probably need a new kicker.
Maybe this ends up as a fitting end for the season. Maybe it’s only right that they beat up on bad teams (for the most part), play well against good teams (for the most part), and watch special teams implode the progress made elsewhere.
Bailey stood alone on the sideline in the waning moments, hands on his shoulder pads and with a mask covering his expression. His performance is just another chapter in a long story of misery from Vikings kickers. But it’s no less painful.
The Vikings could have put themselves on the doorstep of another postseason appearance. Instead, they’ve shown over and over that they’re a mediocre team, a fact only ignored because of an added wild-card spot that has kept the Vikings in the mix into mid-December.
Maybe they’ll run the table and this loss won’t feel quite so significant. Maybe they’ll somehow improve their kicking game. But for now, it seems like yet another game in which the Vikings have gotten in their own way.
“I’m really disappointed,” Zimmer said, faced with the question of whether Bailey can turn this around. “I have a lot of faith in him, I have a lot of confidence in him. But these last two weeks have not been good. I love the kid, he’s a great kid, he’s very even-natured. I don’t know.”
... and neither is this Chris guy.
