I don’t know what’s going to happen the rest of the season. I can take an educated guess. The problem is, except for the entire 2015 season, the week they played the Saints in 2011, and the first week of this year…where I knew exactly what was going to happen in all three of those instances…It’ll be just that. A guess.
They really look like shit.
My dad told me last week when he watches other teams play they make it look so much easier on offense and defense whereas Minnesota just looks like they’re struggling all the time to get anything going. He was right. My response was they looked bad in week 1, but they should look better this week and it won’t look like that much of a struggle on offense.
I was definitely wrong.
If anything they looked worse in all three phases. The defense was never competitive against the run or the pass. They put no pressure on Rivers. And Zimmer never changed things up or tried any blitzes to remedy that. Their punting and return games were awful. And the offense looked like they walked onto the field without a game plan. The only meaningful scoring drive they put together was the three points they scored on the first possession of the game, that was aided by a questionable penalty on one third down and a questionable catch on another.
I guess maybe I’m a little spoiled.
Since Zimmer has arrived the team has had plenty of losses, but very few were in games that weren’t at least competitive. If they had started any of the past 6 seasons with an 0-2 record, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. I’d still think they’d have a chance to win a few games in a row, maybe get a few bounces here and there and still make the playoffs. But I don’t get that feeling now.
After watching these first two weeks I’m not even sure they’ll win a game this year. They’re that uncompetitive.
And right now I don’t see how it can get any better. The preseason 6-10 prediction I had for this team is starting to look pretty generous.
The worst thing about it is it’s a waist of another year. And another year gone from the careers of some of my favorite players, in a sport that is known for having a small shelf life.
I miss Antoine Winfield and Jared Allen. I miss Everson Griffin (big game for Dallas yesterday by the way). I wish Minnesota would have made it to a super bowl while they were on the team. But the Vikings way is generally to cut ties with players that are in their 30’s when their contract is up, or a year or two before that in some cases. Which doesn’t bode well for Harrison Smith and Kyle Rudolph. Even Anthony Barr, who just went out for the season with a torn pec, will play next season at the age of 29. It seems like only two or three years ago he was drafted.
The point is I like some of these players and it’s hard to watch them waist a year when the team stinks.
If Zimmer can turn this team around and make them competitive next week he’ll really be showing me something. But no Hunter, no Barr, and all those rookie defensive backs being held together by dental floss on every play…I just don’t see how he can do it. I don’t think they can even be competitive.
The offense is gonna have to play flawless, which is not really the MO of a Kirk Cousins quarterbacked team, and then they’ll probably still need a little help…
But I’ll be there again next Sunday rooting for it.
Go Vikes.
