Bengals at Vikes Preview: Zim vs. Cincy–Friends or Foes?
Joe Oberle
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The New England Patriots lost to the Dolphins Monday night in Miami. It snapped a 14-game road winning streak (the second longest in NFL history). On Sunday, the Vikings lost to Carolina Panthers, snapping their eight-game winning streak AND a five-game road winning streak. So, perhaps, the Vikings (fans) should not worry too much about all this Super Bowl talk just yet. They have to let the season play out and those things can take care of themselves. That begins on Sunday versus the Cincinnati Bengals.
What this 14-game road winning streak by the defending champion Patriots should illustrate is that the Vikings are not yet to the level of domination that a team like the Patriots (with five titles in the past 15 years) has enjoyed in recent times. That should not be on the Vikings mental radar. Only the game in front of them, which is a visit by the Bengals after three straight road games. The Bengals are Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer’s former team—surely, he has some thoughts on that:
“No thoughts,” Zimmer said on Monday.
Okay, then. Let’s look instead how the Bengals have been playing this season. After an 0-3 start, they are now 5-8 and coming off two losses, including a Monday free-for-all with the Pittsburgh Steelers followed by a coach-killing 33-7 home loss to the Chicago Bears. The Bengals could be either ready to go golfing, come Sunday, or interested in one last shot at saving their head coach Marvin Lewis’ job. Seeing as some of those defensive players for the Bengals played under former Bengals defensive coordinator Zimmer (from 2008-2013), this could be an interesting battle.
“It happens, you get a chance to play your friends and people you used to work with,” Zimmer said on Wednesday. “But this is a game of ‘I see numbers, not faces.'”
Hmmm. Well, perhaps Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen has some thoughts on it.
“No. No, it’s another team on our schedule that we got to go out there and beat,” Griffen said when asked if this was anything extra in this game due to the Zimmer connection. “He probably has some “he wants to beat this team,” but I want to win every game possible; I want to be 16-0. It’s no extra for him. We are going to out there and try to beat them. It’s another team on the schedule; another guy that I’ve got to go up against; and another opportunity to win a ball game.”
Okay, well, the Vikings are coming off their first loss since the Detroit Lions beat them in Week 4 and the team lost the services of rookie running back Dalvin Cook. The Vikings could respond to the tough loss in Carolina in two ways: either turn tail on their postseason prospects and limp through the rest of the season, handing the division to the Green Bay Packers or they can put that game in the proper perspective and get ready to trash the Bengals.
“We’re not panicking,” defensive tackle Tom Johnson told reporters after the game. “We’re pissed that we took an ‘L’, but the ship’s not sinking. It’s not sunken.”
Well, that’s good to hear, since the Vikings still have a three-game lead in the NFC North Division with three games left to play. They need only beat the Bengals on Sunday to clinch the division and continue working on home field advantage through (most of the playoffs). And coming home this week should be fun:
“I think the big difference is the crowd,” a clean-shaven Case Keenum (due to the end of the winning streak) said. “Being at home, our defense plays so well all the time, but the crowd makes a big difference. They can come out, be loud, go crazy and then shut up when we’re on offense and then go crazy when we score. We’re excited to be back home.”
The Vikings need to beat a Bengals team that was down five starters on defense last week and gave up 232 rushing yards to a Chicago team that was the league’s worse offense at the time. But the Vikings can’t exactly cast stones in the Bengals’ direction in regards to rushing defense, as their own stalwart crew (currently ranked the number two rushing defense in the league) gave up 216 rushing yards of their own to Carolina.
That performance included giving up a 60-yard touchdown run to 30-year-old running back Jonathan Stewart on the first series, and a 62-yard romp by quarterback Cam Newton to set up the winning touchdown in the final minutes. So, the Vikings need to get their own defensive house in order also, right Zim?
“The first one, we got knocked down a little bit and then we overran it with two guys. So, we missed the gap,” Zimmer said. “Even with the other one, guys were trying to farm somebody else’s land, basically.”
It’s hard to see the Vikings (under Zimmer) making those mistakes again, however. Plus, the fact that the Bengals don’t run the ball very well—they are ranked 31st in the league with just 79.4 rushing yards per game. The Vikings’ run-stoppers will likely be very focused on stopping the run and then getting after Cincy quarterback Andy Dalton, who has a strong arm and can move in the pocket, but hasn’t exactly been lighting up the airwaves for his team this season (Dalton is ranked 17th in passing yards, 10th in touchdown passes with 21 and T-11 in interceptions with nine). His offense is ranked 32nd in yards (with 277.2 yards per game) and 28th in points scored per game with 17.4. The Vikings defense, which is still ranked third in yards and points allowed should have a field day coming home after three games on the road.
Meanwhile on the other side of the ball, the surly Zimmer on Monday named Keenum his quarterback—despite three turnovers last week versus the Panthers. Keenum should have some room to succeed after facing two top-10 defenses (Carolina and Atlanta) in terms of yards and points allowed the past two weeks. Cincy clocks in at 19th in yards allowed (345.5 per game) and 13th in points (20.8) per game.
But any offensive success will all depend on the health of the Vikings offensive line that employed just one player (right guard Joe Berger) in his usual starting spot by the end of the Panthers game. Left tackle Riley Reiff went out with an ankle injury, so Rashod Hill, in at right tackle for the ailing Mike Remmers (low back), moved to the left side and Jeremiah Sirles came in at right tackle. Left guard Nick Easton played for center Pat Elflein, who has a shoulder injury and Danny Isadora filled in at left guard.
Zimmer, of course, would not say much about injuries, and whether or not Reiff would return (although he did say that the injury appeared better than the team had originally feared). Zimmer, instead, oriented reporters with a lesson in the calendar.
“Today is Monday. I’m not going to talk about injuries,” he said. “We’re not going to go there. There is no sense in starting already. I’ll know more Wednesday when they practice.”
On Tuesday, the Vikings signed tackle Storm Norton to the practice squad. Clearly there is some concern for depth at the tackle position with both of the starters on the injury report.
So, how about on Wednesday?
“I feel pretty good,” Zimmer said about the health of the offensive line on Wednesday. “I think we’ll get a lot of them back. We should get [Pat] Elflein back this week. We should get [Mike] Remmers. There is a good chance, possibility we get [Riley] Reiff back.”
So, Zim can’t (or won’t) tell the future, but he is hopeful regarding the offensive line. I, however, can tell the future (sometimes). I believe the Vikings will win this game no matter who is playing on the offensive line. They are ready to clinch the division and a berth in the playoffs with a win over Zimmer’s old team at home in front the Vikings fans. I predict the noise at U.S Bank Stadium will be quite loud (the fans have had three weeks of rest since the Los Angeles Rams game). And I think that since the Pats are now human, well, perhaps this is the year. But that is not a prediction (not yet), we will have to let season play out first.
Minnesota—31, Cincinnati–13