Rick Sosa’s Territory Journey recaps the final 3 games of 2020
Note: Our Senior Minnesota Vikings Insider Rick Sosa chronicles his experiences as a credentialed Vikings insider. Here’s his final recap of the 2020 season.
Bear down
The Vikings, in a must win divisional game, faced the Chicago Bears at US Bank stadium while once again missing their fearless leader on defense Eric Kendricks. Mitch Trubisky seemed to have Minnesota’s number defeating the Vikings once again to improve his record to 5-2 against the purple.
Cameron Dantzler gave the Vikings one last opportunity to win the game with an interception in the end-zone, but Minnesota’s offense was unable to convert in 4 downs and virtually losing almost all hope for a postseason run in the process.
Vikings kicker Dan Bailey made all of his kicks showing some mental toughness in this game after the absolute debacle at Raymond James stadium in Tampa Bay.
Christmas Miracle
The Vikings arrived at the Mercedes Superdome looking for a Christmas miracle that never came. The New Orleans Saints had this game circled on their calendar since the spring. They wanted revenge after their monumental playoff losses at the hands of the Vikings in 2018 and 2020. Alvin Kamara had 6 rushing touchdowns with Tysom Hill adding a 7th.
New Orleans abused an injury battered Vikings defense and eliminated Minnesota from playoff contention along the way. The Saints got their “sweet revenge” and the Vikings went into offseason mode in December.
Lion tamers again
In a meaningless game, the Vikings traveled to Ford Field in downtown Detroit to face the Lions and risked losing ground in draft positioning with a victory. That having been said, the Vikings were still looking to close the season on a positive note.
Justin Jefferson broke Anquan Boldin rookie receiving yards record and receptions capping a dream first season in the NFL. TE Tyler Conklin continued to emerge as a reliable target and coaching staff darling Chad Beebe dazzled with a nice TD reception. The offseason started for the Vikings in Michigan.
Is it continuity or is it status quo?
That is the biggest question for the Wilf brothers this offseason. Is the continuity formula eventually going to turn into a Super Bowl run?
Or is it a permanent status quo where everyone gets to collect huge paychecks while giving the illusion when wild card and/or divisional rounds are the true ceiling?
We don’t know either but we will be talking about it during this offseason as the planning for it moves along the way. A lot of personnel and coaching staff decisions to be made. Starting with the selection of a new Offensive Coordinator with the retirement of Gary Kubiak. It will be the sixth coordinator in Mike Zimmer’s era.
In today’s NFL when you have a defensive minded Head Coach and successful Offensive Coordinators a common problem is that they are poached away as was the case with almost sure Head Coach of the year Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns.
All the signs point to Klint Kubiak as the new OC which will continue to spark all kinds of nepotism speculation with Adam Zimmer and AC Patterson already in the building.
Lots to talk about in the offseason.
