The Cowboys fiasco – the beating we needed?

 

It’s funny how short memories are in sports. Does anyone even remember the Cowboys game after the Pats?

Me neither, but our fan club member Nick Hopkins does and he tells us all why we should all not forget it so soon, in this weeks SKOLding hot takes!

 

Distant memory?

Maybe that raw, brutal, and utterly humiliating defeat by the Cowboys was fading from your memory by now, relegated to misty recollections of a fateful night flickering across your mental TV screen with every glance at the upcoming schedule. 

Take a moment. Revisit that night of horrors. Sprinkle a pinch of that emotional gut punch over a bit of imagination. Change your perspective. Step through the screen, down from our perfectly framed broadcast vista. Imagine being on that bench, sideline or in the locker room. From that overwhelming and crowded perspective try watching that game slipping…no, flying from your grasp and away…far away…so far out of reach that not even one of your signature Minnesota Miracles could bring it back into view. Imagine what it felt like to be out-played, out-skilled, out-thought and out-lucked. 

Now frame that in the context of an 8 and 1 record built on turning almost ANY deficit into last-minute glory. A team performing like it wasn’t in what is essentially a rebuild season. A team with an underlying streak of self-doubt, but that seemed to have begun to believe the hype. Pride before the fall.

Bit of a bummer, eh?

 

Nothing else Matters

The Vikings’ perspective was the one we’d seen and heard in the tunnel and on the benches: the wins were all that mattered, right?

That was answered by a team with a very honest understanding of how that 8 and 1 record had been built. The Cowboys saw an Easter Egg record…a fragile thing that would crumble with the right pressure. They knew how to make the Vikings lose; the Vikings make the Vikings lose.  And the Vikings didn’t lose. They imploded. And it took the whole team working as one to drop that ball. Down a bottomless abyss that clearly shocked them, and the fans, to the core.

Laying it on a bit thick? Okay, sure…but hear me out. What if that abyssal failure was a great thing? What if that beatdown was exactly what was needed and at exactly the right time? 

 

Evasive action!

Let’s say it had been another skin-of-the-teeth victory. Jump forward another 2 weeks and where would that timeline lead? Those marginal wins would be the accepted norm. The current status quo would be accepted, albeit accompanied by nervous smiles and a remaining question of when the glaring issues that had been papered over would finally come home to roost. The wins are all that matter, remember?

Alternatively, what would a well-fought loss have brought? A sense of almost-but-not-quite. A few minor tweaks and a spirited return to the form that had built such a record. Until the Vikings again meet a team who reads them, understands them, and turns them against themselves to re-exploit those weaknesses.

Neither of these scenarios helps this incredibly revitalised and rapidly evolving new form of the Vikings franchise. They’re not quite there yet, they’re still growing. And evolution is the name of this game right now. Taking a shock to the system like the Cowboys delivered though…well, then in the cold light of going down in flames you can really see where to steer better. You understand your limitations and where they weaken your strengths. Your failings are out there in such crisp and clear detail that everyone sees them, and you can no longer ignore or hide them. 

 

From the horses mouth

To tell you there was a magic moment in all of this…a revealing perspective…and it wasn’t televised.

If you’ve ever watched a post-game coaches’ press conference, you’ll know that you can play cliche bingo as they all roll out the same old rote statements ad nauseam. O’Connell was amid just that, with added platitudes we’d not had to listen to in 7 weeks of wins. Then he stuttered…and dropped the script. O’Connell’s statement was a simple but resonant one, voicing and cementing his honest realisation: 

“I think it’s important that we accept this result…and understand that when you can look to a man, and coach, and player and say we just weren’t good enough that allows you to move forward…but we got to accept it first and foremost”

Ol’ Kev seemed to be staring deep into that abyss the dropped ball fell, instead of turning away from it. So what? Every team learns from their mistakes. It’s done. Move on. Next week. The difference here was that this scale of error was going to linger, but how can that kind of cloud hanging over you be a good thing?

 

Uncomfortable Truths

Weeks of miraculous catches, saves and turnovers combined with a wave of positivity from the top-down culture changes within the team seemed to have created a slight warping of perspectives. Just because you’ve just finished putting a new roof on doesn’t mean you can sit on your laurels and ignore the cracks in the foundation.

So now they pause and take a long hard look at every aspect of what has gone before. More than if they’d lost by a field goal. And more than if they’d scraped another dying-seconds win. And quickly too…you’re due to play again in 4 days! 

Nothing will be beyond questioning and evolving: your gameplan, calls, roster, assignments, schedule, reps, blitz reads, routes, and your adaptability. Your future. Every step forward is now illuminated by a giant flashing neon sign that reads “40-3”.

 

Back to the future

And the timing in all this just couldn’t be sweeter for the Vikings.

With a record that’s just incredible, a divisional clinch looming, and with one eye on the longer game beyond this rebuild season, it all suddenly reads like it was scripted. Any ego bubbles that were over-inflating have been squished a bit, and that’s a fantastic thing. Reality has rushed back into the vacuum it left and the Achilles heels of every player, line, plan, and coach have all been laid bare for all to see once more However, now we have a Vikings with the time, ability, and collective perspective to truly strengthen and armour each other for what is to come. 

This loss wasn’t inevitable, but it was needed. It was an early Christmas gift for which the Vikings may end up owing the Cowboys for. So, thanks, ladies, and gents…we’ll be sure to return the favour! 

Skol, Vikings.

Author: Nick Hopkins

Editors: Tommy Beauchene, Richard Dawson