The Vikings didn’t have much of a shot of making the playoffs going into the game, but what plan of attack they could have had was dashed with a Minnesota loss.
Unlike earlier in the season, it wasn’t a story of an inept offense letting down an incredible defensive performance—it was closer to the reverse, although that would be being too kind to an offense featuring multiple embarrassing turnovers.
By the time the Packers threw in backup quarterback Brett Hundley to signal the unofficial end of the game, the Vikings were averaging 5.0 yards a carry from their running backs and had a 106.1 passer rating from Sam Bradford, with two touchdowns and over 300 yards. Those numbers were even better at halftime.
But the Vikings were down by 19 points by the time the game was largely over, and that wasn’t just because the Vikings were poor at converting inside the red zone (and make no mistake, they were poor at converting inside the red zone).
The game was not characterized by consistent dominance by any particular team’s unit but by enormous mistakes from the Vikings defense paired with a fantastic ability by the Packers to capitalize on those mistakes.
On most plays, the Vikings defense did well, but it was the significance of those plays where they made mistakes that defined the game. The Packers lived off of the big play, and otherwise had some issues with moving the ball unless it meant improvisation from Aaron Rodgers.
The first half also demonstrated smart strategy from Green Bay, as they kept Aaron Rodgers off of Pro Bowl cornerback Xavier Rhodes by hiding him in the slot or targeting him when coverage rotated out of necessity. They recognized the Vikings blitz packages early and attacked their weaknesses.
Sometimes those combined, just like on Jordy Nelson’s first touchdown, where a weakness in the zone coverage the Vikings played behind their decoy front would have allowed a Nelson reception but the mistake from either Anthony Barr or Harrison Smith meant Nelson was completely unaccounted for—so he walked in after mowing over Andrew Sendejo.
Add in Trae Waynes missing his assignment in coverage after he assumed a receiver would break inside, as well as Captain Munnerlyn falling down in defense during a route, and it was a perfect recipe for the kind of disaster Vikings fans feared going into the game.
That derailed defense led to a more frenetic and confused offense that had been performing well until they had to deal with the realities of playing from behind once more.
While early on the Vikings pass protection was holding up, as they chased points and made it more obvious they were going to pass the ball, sacks came and killed drives. Though Alex Boone and Joe Berger played well, struggles from Nick Easton, Jeremiah Sirles and especially T.J. Clemmings characterized the offensive line’s performance.
Though Sirles gave up pressure and Easton contributed a penalty as well as a fumble that, according to Mike Zimmer after the game, got “caught in the grass” on the snap, Clemmings may have been the most obvious offender when it came to stalling the Minnesota offense.
Otherwise, things were clicking. Until the fourth quarter, both Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata were finding holes in the running game, protecting well as blockers and dynamic as pass-catchers. McKinnon had the more productive game of the two, but Asiata was more efficient both outside and inside short-yardage situations. While McKinnon’s contributions as a receiver probably overshadow any of that, it’s good to see both running backs playing well in a season that really didn’t see much of that at all.
Much has to be said of Adam Thielen’s game, too. The third-most prolific game by a pass-catcher in Vikings regular season history, he was absolutely stunning. Thielen won at every level of the field—a threat playing short, deep or intermediate. Not only that, he grabbed a carry and a return for a total of 225 all-purpose yards and 206 yards from scrimmage.
Thielen won passes against contested coverage, on the sideline and wide open. He caught a pass in the end zone and ran one to the end zone as well. His play deserves praise.
Beyond him, Stefon Diggs was quiet but did catch four passes for 29 yards. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with his play, but nothing stood out like it has in the past, either.
Kyle Rudolph featured as a run blocker though he had his own issues as a receiver. While six catches for 53 yards isn’t fundamentally poor for a tight end as a stat line, he had is issues tracking the ball and converting targets into catches at times.
Defensively there were some pretty big highlights from players like Danielle Hunter, Linval Joseph and Eric Kendricks, but they were overshadowed by mistakes made elsewhere.
The Vikings contained the rushing attack well, and prevented too many yards after contact despite some tough running from new running back convert Ty Montgomery. Knowing that Montgomery would need more time to learn pass protection assignments, they also ended up targeting him in blitz assignments halfway through the game.
Though they needed more from Shamar Stephen and Everson Griffen, they largely had a good game from their defensive line, even though the overall pressure rate was fairly low.
An Everson Griffen rush that ended up in lost contain and an Aaron Rodgers rushing touchdown is a big problem, but Griffen did end up generating some positive plays that he deserves credit for. I would argue his neutral zone infraction penalty requires some leeway as well, given that it should be impossible to commit a neutral zone infraction when there are zeros on the playclock.
Anthony Barr was silent in the game, and Chad Greenway showed up occasionally but without doing much either. Both linebackers might be happier than they are sad that they didn’t get much press because they weren’t needed much in the running game and the coverage concepts didn’t attack them too often.
Maybe in this case, silence from normally obvious players is golden.
Unfortunately the Vikings saw some horrible play from Trae Waynes, Harrison Smith and Captain Munnerlyn. A secondary that provided the backbone to a defense that saw a dip in play from linebackers and defensive linemen at the midpoint of the season failed the Vikings spectacularly in this game.
Waynes lost contested catches, missed tackles and gave up enormous play with coverage mistakes. Harrison Smith was lost in man coverage and required to play as the primary defender in coverage against receivers because of the defensive concepts the Vikings deployed early in the game. While he was able as a run defender, this caused big problems for the Vikings passing defense.
Even when he was given more favorable man coverage matchups, like against Richard Rodgers, his play fell through.
This might be because the defensive backs went rogue, against Zimmer’s gameplan for the week:
You can read more about that problem in Krammer’s piece at the Star Tribune.
To some extent, this means Rhodes was culpable for the issues in coverage as well, because he abdicated responsibility for the way he was supposed to be used.
Though Minnesota wasn’t helped with a bad game from Jeff Locke or another missed extra point, it’s clear that the game falls on the shoulders of the defense.
While they’ve had other games where they’ve given up more yards and first downs, they hadn’t given up more points—and the nature of big play offenses is that they may not generate those first downs while still being effective.
They made more coverage mistakes in this game than they likely have all year, and certainly couldn’t make up for it with enough pass-rushing pressure to force interceptions or other turnovers.
This, of course, had to happen in the only game where the Vikings could produce offensively in the air and on the ground, and while they themselves stopped the run.
It takes the Vikings out of the playoff race, but honestly it seems like they were out of it two weeks ago, when they gave up nearly as bad of a game against the Colts.
