NFL
By Steve Rogers
The Minnesota Vikings got utterly demoralized and destroyed by the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. They haven’t been beaten that badly by the Cowboys in over 42 years, which is longer than I have been alive. So I guess there is no place but up from here. As a team, the Vikings got knocked out cold. In fact, they should have to pass concussion protocols as a franchise after that debacle. The only game or team that can say they’ve been beaten worse is this organization back in 2000 in the NFC Championship game when the Vikings got smoked by a 41-0 shutout blowout taken behind the woodshed whooping. So what’s next for the Vikings? How bout a short week game on thanksgiving Thursday night primetime?
Enter week 11. The second game of a three-game homestand. The opponent this week is the New England Patriots. The Patriots are 6-4 after barely escaping last week with a win over the New York Jets. Even though they were unable to score a touchdown on offense. A late-game miracle punt return touchdown on special teams helped them get the victory. Their quarterback Mac Jones this year has thrown seven interceptions and only four touchdowns. Even if you flipped those numbers around, would anyone say they were impressive by any means? Not really is he better than these numbers? Suggest? For Boston’s and the rest of New England’s sake, they better hope so. The Patriot’s offense scored just three points last week against the Jets. The Patriots have one of the worst red zone scoring offenses in the league. What better way to work on fixing that than to come to Minnesota, where the Vikings have been one of the most generous of defenses inside the 20-yard line. Speaking of the defensive side of things, on the Patriot’s side of it, they have potentially the defensive player of the year in Linebacker Mathew Judon. He leads the league with 13 sacks, which has him on pace to flirt with 22 or 23 for the year!
To the Minnesota Vikings now. If I had to give this team a narrative with just one word, it would be fluctuating. As much as we think we know, week in and week out, the story changes. In week one, the Vikings looked impressive and dominant. In week two, they were pummeled on primetime. Then they rattled off several close comebacks against not-great teams and or backup quarterbacks. Then the Vikings did the almost impossible, went to Buffalo, and in a stunning wild game of the year, overtime thriller fashion, pulled off the biggest upset of the year. Giving them seven consecutive wins and one high-quality win on the resume. Then they came home against the Cowboys and gave up one of the most awful and ugly performances in the super bowl era. Hopefully, after putting up minimal effort against the Cowboys, the Vikings can shake that L off and get back to their winning ways. With the 6-4 Patriots in town the last time Bill Belichick and company were here, they were losing the super bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles. Let’s hope some of that energy can be residually left in the US Bank Stadium, and the Vikings can harness it this Thursday night. The Vikings have at least four very winnable games remaining on their schedule, not including this one.
My Prediction
I think this will be an interesting game. There is another defensive monster coming to town in Judon. Can the offensive line slow him down enough to allow Kirk Cousins to operate? Will Justin Jefferson get back to another huge game? Can Dalvin Cook find running room? This hopefully doesn’t come down to last-second heroics, but that has been the Viking’s brand of football this year. Final score 24-21 Vikings.
