Breaking down what the Vikings have had to deal with in 2020 [According to Reddit]
Joe Johnson
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Time to learn how the sausage is made!
There’s a few ways that I determine what topics to cover each day (or rather, each hour (or four) of each day since I write like six articles each day), none of which are super credibility building outside of the press releases that the team emails me each morning/time there’s a transaction. Beyond that, I do what most of you do, I look at Google News or message boards/social media. Most of the time I’m not looking for something to write as much as I’m trying to stay on-top of the team for my articles/radio appearances, but sometimes inspiration hits me.
In that vein, I was on Reddit’s Minnesota Vikings sub tonight and I came across a post by a user named NatureBoy92 that broke down everything the Minnesota Vikings have dealt with this season (in his estimation).
I felt like it was worth a run-through as we can learn a lot from this list. Each bullet point is his take, and the paragraph/comment underneath is my take on that point (if there isn’t one, then I’m basically saying either I agree or what he’s saying is an objective fact).
10h
A list of the things that the Vikings have had to contend with this year
- We completely gutted our cornerbacks (Rhodes, Waynes, Alexander) and started over. The guy with the most experience at the start of the year was Mike Hughes lol
That’s true, but it’s worth noting how we got here. I’m not saying that the Vikings should’ve or even could’ve kept Waynes or Rhodes around, but it’s a bit frustrating to see Rhodes perform better in Indy and the way this Vikings defense has performed in 2020 when they’ve used less man-to-man and more zone (the same system Rhodes flourished in earlier this year with the Colts) when it makes you think that this defense could’ve actually been championship caliber in 2017/18/19 had Zimmer thought outside the box before he was forced to.
- We started two rookies at CB, which by all accounts is the hardest position to learn on the fly. Zimmer almost never even starts rookies
Yeah. Again. He was forced to. Not saying NB is arguing that, but it’s a failure of team-building to get to the point that you end up doing something you hate doing at the position you’re known as a “whisperer” or “guru” at.
The Vikings could’ve picked up a veteran yo help coach these young guys (a la Terrance Newman) or kept Rhodes around at a discount, but then again they probably didn’t expect Mike Hughes to yet again get injured or Holton Hill to get injured and thus released. But still, it would’ve been nice earlier in the year to have someone over the age of 16 to help with this.
- Because of the lack of Preseason and typical training camp, these rookies and this ravamped secondary essentially went from playing in college to getting “on the job training” in the NFL
- We lost Linvel Joseph
Losing Linval was probably the biggest loss this off-season. Things may have been different had Michael Pierce not had to opt out to know, you know, die, but the lack of a true nose tackle has been a huge issue this season (especially early on).
While I do think this team needs a left tackle of the future on the offensive side of the ball (and to move Ezra Cleveland to left guard), I wouldn’t mind landing a dominant nose tackle in the first round of the Draft in 2021 (with or without Pierce).
- We lost team leader and sack father Everson Griffin
This brings up something that has irked me the last couple weeks during the Vikings improbable playoff push. Imagine how different things could’ve been had they kept Yannick Ngakoue.
While from the same team-building logic (I discussed above) it does make sense to get what you can from a one-year rental like Ngakoue… The Vikings traded him so far ahead of the deadline that it felt like they could’ve done more to get more.
Or they could’ve kept him and made a run in a season where, especially after the Saints fell to the Eagles last Sunday, the NFC is and was wide open. I probably won’t care when the Vikings are on the clock in the third-and-fifth next April, and there’s probably no reality in which the Vikings could afford Ngakoue and Danielle Hunter…
… But damn it was fun to imagine.
- We also lost some pretty solid depth pieces in Sendejo and Stephen Weatherly as well as Brothers
- We lost Danielle Hunter, Anthony Barr, and Michael Pierce to injuries and Covid
- To basically sum this up: we started this season with 3 out of 11 starters on defense from the previous year
This sums up the last couple points.
I feel like this number is off? But it’s late and the number isn’t the point. The point is that this unit has seen it all this season and deserves credit for not completely falling apart this season (even though at points it felt like they had).
Or, rather, they deserve additional credit for falling apart or having a rough start and then pulling themselves together and playing pretty great against elite offenses/quarterbacks like Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers. They’ve also played well the last few weeks, allowing the team overcome things that typically always mean that a team loses (like multiple turnovers or multiple defensive scores).
- On top of all of this, we lost George Edwards (Defensive Coordinator) and Jerry Gray who had been here with Zimmer since he arrived in 2014. Both are considered to be good coaches.
This isn’t that big of a deal as they hired from within and because Mike and Adam Zimmer still have complete control (which implies continuity for the remaining defenders like Kendricks or Harrison Smith).
- Finally, we lost our best remaining defensive player to injury.. Eric Kendricks. We then won a football game without him and then were competitive against Tampa Bay.
Yeah. That one is rough. Outside of Smith (who is having his best year in years, or ever, Kendricks has been the MVP of this defense and is wholly underrated across the league.
That was just the defense!
We’ve also had:
- Awful offensive line play that has cost us games
What else is new?
I mean, the line has improved since Ezra Cleveland was moved to right guard but they need to replace Dakota Dozier at left guard ASAP. In a perfect world they’d flip Cleveland to left guard after the season (or before the Bears game) and use Brett Jones at right guard or draft one in the fifth round.
But, this team seems to loathe using draft picks on guards, so don’t hold your breathe.
- Sloppy start from Kirk who has completely turned it around
The above has something to do with it, but Cousins has been elite since the bye.
- Dalvin Cook has been injured, he missed an important game in Seattle that we needed like 4.2 inches to win
What else is new version 2.
- We traded one of the cores of our team, Steffon Diggs. Granted, Jefferson has been amazing! We still lost an integral part of the team and Vikings lore
Had the Jefferson move not worked out this could’ve gone down as another awful trade by an organization known for two of the worst trades in league history (with Herschel Walker, and Randy Moss).
The main complaint here is that we didn’t focus on Jefferson SOONER.
- Our kicker has imploded, it essentially cost us the game last week along with poor officiating. He also could be factored into the loss against Tennessee. If he kicks perfect in those two games, we’re 8-5 and cruising to the playoffs
I can’t believe that someone that was once the second most accurate kicker in league history is suddenly awful. I’ve always felt like Bailey has been a canary in a coal mine and that the change at long-snapper before the Jags game isn’t a coincidence.
- Speaking of officiating, it’s been fucking weird. Remember when Harry was ejected? The weird calls last week? They love throwing the flaeg on us
I don’t want to be a Packers fan here, but, Cousins alone has taken some hits this season that had they happened to Rodgers there’d be a congressional investigation.
The best way to sum this up is the fact that there hasn’t been a pass interference call in over a decade on a Hail Mary. That’s just bad, and to me the main job of a ref is to not effect the outcome of a game. That hasn’t been the case this year.
- We lost our offensive coordinator, Kevin Stefanski. This has, once again, disrupted continuity on the offensive side of the ball. It took us being 1-5 to find something of a rhythm. Yes, Kubiak was here last year. But we have a different guy calling plays for the 5th time in 7 years
This is something people haven’t focused enough on when it comes to Cousins’ career here (or Zimmer’s tenure in general). Since Cousins signed we’ve had multiple offensive coordinators, from John DeFilippo to Gary Kubiak. He’s only been here for under three seasons, but he’s had over a coordinator a season on average (at this point).
That’s most likely why Cousins has struggled at the start of the last two seasons (including this one). He’s had little protection from the line and has had a new system that he wasn’t yet comfortable with. Which, has to be the worst combo possible for a quarterback.
- We have had awful special teams play. Like just downright bad in every aspect. We had to cut a long-snapper
It’s been bad. For years. Going back to the mike Preifer era, it feels like special teams have been a liability for as long as I can remember. The coverage team was good under Preifer (and apparently not terrible under Maalouf), but he went through a kicker and punter every season and a half.
The only good kicker they had was Kai Forbath, but he wasn’t great at extra points and his leg strength for kickoffs left something to be desired. After making one of the most clutch kicks in team history in 2017 (before the Minneapolis Miracle), he was replaced and things have been bad-then okay-then good-now awful again.
Sigh.
So what? Now we have to expect the team to use another fifth-round pick on a kicker a la Blair Walsh and Daniel Carlson? Good to know we traded Ngakoue for a big legged SEC kicker who probably had a rough senior season.