It was a virtually meaningless game, but the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions did their best to entertain. A back-and-forth affair went Minnesota’s way, 37-35. They finish the season 7-9, ending a disappointing 2020 campaign.
HOW’D THE OFFENSE DO?
After a slow start that included three punts through the first seven minutes, the Vikings were pretty fun to watch on offense. Kirk Cousins let it fly in his final game of the year with Dalvin Cook out, helping Justin Jefferson surpass Anquan Boldin‘s NFL record for rookie receiving yards. Jefferson finished the game with 133 yards and the season with 1,400. Cousins surpassed 400 yards in the game and 4,000 for the season, capping a strong final 10 games where he threw 24 touchdowns and three interceptions.
Defense appeared optional in this one, leading to a shootout that featured seven lead changes. Alexander Mattison scored twice in relief of Cook, Ameer Abdullah found the end zone against his former team, and Chad Beebe scored with four seconds left in the first half on a bonkers last-ditch pass that resembled the Minneapolis Miracle play (albeit in a meaningless situation). Cousins scored on a fourth-quarter QB sneak and proceeded to Griddy in the end zone. All things considered, the Vikings had fun with their final outing of the year at a fan-less Ford Field.
Now the offense heads into the offseason with a final vision of what the offense can look like with a pass-oriented approach. (Hint: It’s pretty good.)
HOW’D THE DEFENSE DO?
The injury damage only worsened this week with Cameron Dantzler, Ifeadi Odenigbo and Chris Jones joining the list of absences, and Matthew Stafford and Marvin Jones carved up the secondary, striking for two scores and 180 yards. Even Adrian Peterson broke a long run and scored a touchdown against his former team.
There were only a handful of Vikings starting Sunday that will be involved on next year’s defense: Harrison Smith and Jeff Gladney, and probably D.J. Wonnum and Troy Dye in smaller roles. It’s hard to get too worked up about another bad defensive performance knowing that information, but at least Alvin Kamara didn’t score six touchdowns on them.
Harrison Smith recorded his 28th career interception for the day’s high point. Hercules Mata’afa also nailed Matthew Stafford for a sack. Yannick Ngakoue — who was traded after Week 6 — ended the season as the Vikings’ sack leader.
OBLIGATORY SPECIAL TEAMS REPORT
A miserable season on special teams ended with another dud. Dan Bailey‘s nightmare December continued into January with two missed kicks, giving him 10 misses in the last five games. He was likely playing through back pain that gave him trouble throughout the week.
The Lions returned the second half kickoff 70 yards as well, setting up a quick touchdown to begin the third quarter.
One positive came early in the game as long snapper Andrew DePaola recovered a Lions fumble on a punt return, but the Vikings couldn’t capitalize on offense.
This may be the end of the brief Marwan Maalouf era on special teams after season-long struggles.
BIG PICTURE
Time to turn to free agency and the draft. The Vikings will pick in the teens and have a handful of important needs: safety, pass rusher and offensive line among them. Defense is seemingly the biggest priority, even with a handful of returning starters coming back from injury. Nonetheless, the 2021 Vikings will be expected to bounce back.
