Head coaches often neglect their time management decision responsibilities. Coaches have to deal with substitutions, high-level decisions and the overall flow of the game. Sometimes that leads to baffling timeout and clock management decisions. The Minnesota Vikings had two clock-stressed opportunities to score in Sunday’s win against the Carolina Panthers. On those, they scored a field goal and the eventual game-winning touchdown.
But in the midst of a frustrating season, and a frustrating game that felt like the end of that season, criticism rained down. The Vikings started a two-minute drill in the second quarter with three timeouts, 1:52 on the clock and 75 yards to go. They ran three plays before their first timeout: a run for two, a pass for nine and a pass for seven. Forty-seven seconds bled from the clock before the Vikings took their first timeout.
The Vikings only gained 18 yards, and took 47 seconds to do so. Possession near midfield with 1:18 remaining and two timeouts is still comfortable, but fans were livid. Why were they taking so much time? Imagine that, on each play, the Vikings fumbled instead of whatever happened, giving Carolina possession with three timeouts. That shouldn’t be difficult to picture, considering they’d fumble three times in the second half. What quality of opportunity would the Panthers pick up? At this juncture, it would have given Carolina the ball with over a minute, three timeouts and the ball in opposing territory.
The Vikings probably aren’t thinking about possible turnovers, but they try to deny their opponents’ quality opportunities. They want to end the half with the ball, whether they score or not. And if they do end up kicking the ball back to Carolina, they want that possession to be as worthless as possible. So they kept bleeding clock.
A run for five and a scramble for 11 later, The Vikings called their second timeout. With 38 seconds remaining, the Vikings were out of field goal range at the opposing 41. Carolina may have been able to score if they took over with 38 seconds and all three timeouts, but it’s already a much tougher task. The Vikings found themselves at the 29, but a couple penalties backed them up. They kicked a field goal on 4th and 15 as time expired. Carolina never re-possessed the ball.
The Vikings threw one end zone shot but ended up settling for three points. The clock certainly affected some of the final play calls, but the second quarter drive was mostly derailed by two procedural penalties. A 3rd and 20 is a death knell for any drive, clock-stressed or otherwise.
The final drive was a different situation. The Vikings still had most of the final two minutes but no timeouts remaining. That changes the strategy. With even one timeout, the Vikings always have the option of throwing over the middle. When they deploy that option is one thing, but Carolina will always have to defend the middle of the field. That helped the Vikings get easy sideline throws for 21 yards and two clock stoppages.
With the Vikings near midfield and 1:41 on the clock, it was time to slow down. Kirk Cousins checked down to Kyle Rudolph for seven, chewing up 17 seconds. Next, he found Chad Beebe for 12 yards and 21 seconds. The next play, complete to Rudolph for 25 yards, took 10 seconds, but a penalty on Carolina stopped the clock.
The Vikings scored six seconds later.
The drive was impressive, if a bit too fast. The Panthers got the ball with 46 seconds, although they had already used their timeouts earlier in the half. That was enough to set up a difficult, but reasonable, 54-yard field goal attempt. The Vikings only had three clock stoppages on their drive. They went out of bounds twice and Carolina committed a penalty. So while they scored too fast, it’s difficult to find obvious mistakes in their decision-making.
NFL rules guarantee that both teams possess the ball to begin one half. They don’t guarantee who possesses the ball to end one half. One of the most powerful tricks available to an NFL team is to end the half with the ball, denying their opponent a possession. A turnover can cancel an opposing possession and rightfully be one of the highlights of the game. Denying possession to the opponent can be a turnover in its own right, whether the Vikings scored or not. Bleeding the clock was the absolute correct decision in both situations, and Zimmer should approach the next two-minute drill with the exact same mindset.
