Can the 2020 Vikings be fixed?

The Vikings have found several ways to lose this season, but this was new. They had been the better team for much of the night, foiled in the biggest moments and for a few minutes in the third quarter. In a different season or with a different record, this was one that could’ve been viewed in a positive light. A moral victory of sorts. The Vikings went to Seattle and went toe-to-toe on a rainy night with arguably the NFC’s best team.

But this isn’t that season. The Vikings are 1-4 to start a campaign they hoped would end with an NFC North title. It’s not over yet, but they’ve left themselves next to no margin for error if they’re going to reach their goal of a playoff berth.

“Honestly, the message in the locker room is we can be a dang good football team,” Adam Thielen said. “We saw it tonight, we saw it the last couple weeks. We just need to finish one more play.”

Perhaps that’s what makes this loss so maddening. If any number of small things went slightly different, the Vikings win that game. If they convert on fourth-and-inches from Seattle’s 6-yard line. If Cameron Dantzler doesn’t misplay a pass on fourth-and-10 with the game on the line earlier in the Seahawks’ winning drive. If they force one more incompletion on the final play for the Seahawks. If they don’t unravel in the third quarter, blowing a 13-0 lead, then later a 26-21 lead.

Three weeks ago, there was the thought that the Vikings might be one of the worst teams in the league, capable of tanking for a top draft pick. We now know that’s not the case. The Vikings lost by a point to an undefeated Titans team. They proved they can go on the road and outplay (for most of the game) a Super Bowl favorite.

But they’re also a team that’s been unable to close out games. They can do so many things right, then fall apart when it matters most. Take, for instance, their fourth-and-inches play. All game, the Vikings ran the ball well, to the tune of more than 200 yards. That’s part of why, with the game on the line, Zimmer told Gary Kubiak to go for it.

“I told them in the headset, ‘We didn’t come here for this — let’s go win it,’” Zimmer said.

Instead, the Vikings couldn’t pick up one yard on their biggest offensive play despite racking up 449 for the game. Zimmer trusted that unit to seal what would’ve been a statement win. He had preached patience when it came to this roster with its inexperienced defense, and it seemed that this might be where it all turned around. So he went for the sure win instead of a chip-shot field goal to go up eight points.

“We came here to win,” Zimmer said. “I’m not going to second-guess any of that stuff. We just didn’t get it done.”

Still, even after failing to convert, all his defense had to do was keep the Seahawks from going 94 yards in less than two minutes. Zimmer finally seemed to be finding a groove with his unit in this game, dialing up play calls that yielded pressure on Wilson, while his work with the young corners was leading to strong coverages, especially in the first half.

But on fourth-and-10, Wilson heaved a pass down the sideline to Metcalf that seemed easy to intercept, or, at the very least, one that would be easy to deflect. Instead, Dantzler overran the pass and was way out of position when Metcalf caught the ball for the fourth-down conversion.

“I thought we were going to intercept it, honestly,” Zimmer said.

The list of what-ifs are long from this loss. What if Dalvin Cook didn’t get hurt with a groin injury that will require an MRI on Monday? What if Kirk Cousins doesn’t throw a horrible interception in the third quarter that leads to the Seahawks’ third touchdown in a two-minute span in the first half of the third quarter? What if the Vikings kicked a field goal instead of going for it on fourth down?

And in another year, perhaps it’s fun to entertain each of those and wonder how the loss might impact the team’s playoff positions. But these Vikings haven’t put themselves in that position.

Yes, they’ve shown they can play with good teams. And, yes, the schedule lightens a bit now with the 0-5 Atlanta Falcons coming to town next. But we’re five games into a season where the Vikings were, at worst, supposed to be contending for the newly-added second wild-card spot. Instead, they’re probably the best one-win team left in the NFL, but what does that get you?

“I like my team regardless of what happened,” Eric Wilson said. “I know we’re a good football team. … The game was there to be won.”

Indeed, it was. But that’s part of the problem. It’s starting to seem as if these Vikings might be headed for NFL purgatory. A worse team folds after that third-quarter unraveling. A better team ices the game when they have the chance. But this group is just good enough to hang with teams like the Seahawks and just bad enough to lose to them.

The Vikings said all the right things afterward about getting back to work and trying to turn things around. And maybe they will. They have winnable games coming up after some tough early-season matchups. And for the more daunting games left on their schedule, they’ve given reason to believe they can compete. But their lack of success so far means they have a tall task ahead if they’re going to reach the playoffs.

Instead, the Vikings are left to lament how this season started with so much promise but leaves them with a 1-4 record because a few plays didn’t go their way.

“Man, one more play, one more yard, one more stop,” Thielen said, examining all that could have gone different. “We’re just so close and that’s probably why it’s so disappointing, it’s so frustrating.”