Knowing they’d likely need to score points to keep up with Drew Brees and the high-powered Saints, who were leading the NFC in scoring entering play, the Minnesota Vikings took three fourth-down gambles in Sunday’s 30-20 loss.
Two resulted in touchdowns; one felt like a missed opportunity.
As Meat Loaf sang, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” but the Vikings would’ve loved to have all three.
“We didn’t want to get in a game where we were trading field goals for touchdowns or had an opportunity and didn’t take advantage,” quarterback Kirk Cousins said after the game. “We do have a lot of respect for them and felt the need to stay on the field, move the football and then get as many points as we possibly could.”
That manifested itself on the Vikings’ opening drive. Trailing 7-0, the Vikings failed three times in a row from the 1-yard line and faced 4th and goal. Minnesota went for it and drew up a designed rollout for Cousins, who had to make a precision throw to the front left corner of the end zone for Stefon Diggs to grab it in bounds.
It turned out to be the first of two 4th-and-goal touchdowns for the Vikings, who later converted one to Adam Thielen in the fourth quarter to cut their deficit to 10.
But the fourth down attempt in between the touchdowns was the one about which the Vikings may wonder what could have been.
Minnesota trailed 17-13 when it received the ball to start the second half. Looking for a counterpunch after New Orleans capitalized on a Thielen fumble to take the lead late in the first half, the Vikings went for it on 4th and 1 from their own 45.
Cousins lined up in the shotgun with five wide receivers. Thielen, who leads the league in first-down catches, appeared open as he faked a slant and then veered toward the right sideline. Aldrick Robinson looked open as well after running a curl from the left slot and settling beyond the sticks.
Cousins, though, looked to Laquon Treadwell over the middle, who got his hands on the pass but had the ball knocked away by Marshon Lattimore.
“That was a good play by him,” Treadwell said of Lattimore’s breakup. “Initially, I won the route, but just made a great play on the ball.”
The Vikings gave the Saints a short field and an eventual field goal to take a 20-13 edge. The missed 4th and 1 didn’t determine the game — that happened one drive later as Cousins threw a Pick-6 to P.J. Williams — but the missed opportunity to retake the lead hurt as Minnesota failed to score on its drives leading into and coming out of halftime.
“I told the team that I was going to be aggressive, and that every fourth down that was close, we were going to go for it,” Zimmer said. “It didn’t work out, so what.”
The Vikings’Â playcallers showed their faith in Cousins, relying on his arm for all three 4th-and-1 attempts.
“Coach Zimmer and Coach DeFilippo said, ‘We have to be aggressive. Don’t be surprised if we go for it on fourth down this week,'” Cousins said. “I love that they stuck to that plan.”
Zimmer and Cousins were questioned on their aggressiveness in another area, however, after the game. Minnesota’s decision not to attempt a drive with 30 seconds remaining in the first half and two timeouts drew boos from the U.S. Bank Stadium throng. Fans also grew agitated late as the Vikings huddled and took over five minutes to score a touchdown when trailing by 17.
The head coach defended the decisions.
“I think you are 100 percent totally wrong with clock management,” Zimmer told a reporter. “I go through it every day. I think you are 100 percent totally wrong.”
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