The Loss that I Saw Coming

Well now that I have had time to collect my thoughts on Minnesota's most recent attempt to send me into a frenzied rage, I think I'll calmly break down the Vikings' very disappointing 18-15 come-from-ahead loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

All game long, or at least before I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to eat lunch and watch the fourth quarter -which was a mistake because there were just a ton of Packers fans there (geez I never knew there were that many in Iowa City)- I was checking the stat line and various message boards and blogs and people kept talking about how Minnesota was dominating the game fom a defensive standpoint. Adrian Peterson was tearing it up. Indy suffered a few more injuries to key players, and Ryan Longwell was perfect on the day. The only thing that worried them was whether or not the passing game would make an appearance to help keep the pressure off the run game.

Well, the passing game was MIA, Indianapolis found another playmaker on offense, and Ryan Longwell missed his first field goal of the day with 7:15 left to play in the game when it was still 15-7 Minnesota. That's one of the reasons I knew Minnesota was going to lose this game even before Manning rallied his troops. But of course I had that feeling way back in the second quarter as well.

When your offense has golden opportunities to blow out an opponent and you settle for field goals you are just begging for them to hang around and see if they can come back and sting you in the rear.
The Vikings did just that. Three field goals in the first half and another two in the third including one very discouraging drive where Visanthe Shiancoe dropped a sure touchdown pass from Tarvaris Jackson. Sure he had to dive for it a bit, but it wasn't the toughest catch in the world. Shiancoe hit the turf and the ball popped out like wet soap and the Vikings would squander away their last chance at getting six on the board. Instead Ryan Longwell booted his fifth field goal of the game, and if there's one positive you can take from this loss it's that Ryan Longwell is like fine wine (sorry for the old cliche) he gets better with age. Longwell booted a sure-thing 53-yard field goal at the end of the first half and for the California Golden Bear alum (and former Green Bay Packer might I add) in his 12th NFL season he is a reliable scoring option for an offense that has become somewhat unreliable. Though it would've helped certainly, Longwell's only miss (his sixth attempt of the day) was not what lost the Vikes the game.

No, instead it was the lack of creativity on offense once again. It is becoming way too predictable the way Minnesota loses football games anymore. The Vikings have a lead or fight back to tie it. Then fall apart on offense. They set the opponent up with good, if not great, field position, and the team makes one or two key plays to get in line for a game-winning field goal with little or no time on the clock.
Minnesota's offensive play calling almost suggested that they were playing not to lose and in 95% of those cases (numbers are strictly opinion) the team that plays like that will lose.
When it was apparent by the end of the third and into the fourth that Indianapolis had figured out how to slow down the Vikings' ground game did the Offensive Coordinators try and open things up in the passing game? Nope. They just ran it some more. The "stop us if you can" mentality can only last so long in a one-dimensional offense.
When the Vikings had the ball at the Indianapolis 47 with 10:30 to go in the 4th, they decided to milk some time off the clock so here's the sequence of plays:

-Peterson for 4 yds to Indy 43; the Colts looked a little susceptible there so let's run it again
-Peterson for 7 yds to Indy 36; nice run and a first down. now do we keep running or mix it up, maybe a play action?
-Peterson for -3 yds to Indy 39; okay not a good call to run it three times I guess. 2nd and long we need to pick up some yards here
-Peterson for 8 yds to Indy 31; same play for the third time to the right side, sets up for a 3rd and 5, would've preferred a pass there but hey it's manageable now, may need to mix it up this time definitely
-Chestor Taylor for 1 yd to Indy 30; off right guard for the 4th time in a row....maybe they weren't expecting Indianapolis to play the run on a 3rd and 5...well they did and for that you squander your last chance to score as Longwell misses his first field goal of the day.

Five running plays in a row. Four went off the right side, three off right guard. Two got decent yardage. One had Chestor Taylor running the ball...and that happened to be on a critical 3rd and 5. The Vikings were doomed from there on.

Manning then marched his team down the field on the ensuing possession and helped his team tie the ball game at 15-15. Just like clockwork. Just as I figured would happen when you can't find the endzone against a team as dynamic as the Colts.

Indianapolis then played field position and the Vikings lost. That set up for more Manning heroics when he hit Reggie Wayne on a 3rd and 9 to give Adam Vinatieri more than an adequate chance at the game-winning 3-pointer. Sure he missed one before, but this one was too easy a set-up. Vinatieri drilled it down the center and the Vikings dropped to 0-2 after coming into the season with such promise and hype.

I could get into the officiating, like how several times the Colts got favorable spots or how that touchdown run by Joseph Addai looked to be just short of the goal line by an inch, but the Vikings had plenty of chances to put this game out of reach well before that and couldn't do it. So here's to hoping they can get their act together before next week because the road only gets tougher. Next they get the surging Carolina Panthers at home, and given Minnesota's track record for losing close ball games (and Carolina's for winning them recently), I'm thinking I might not even want to watch this next one...but I will because I'd rather watch the game than do homework on a Sunday afternoon.