SKOL from the Sofa

2024 Week 7 – Vikings vs Lions

It’s amazing to see a result you’ve been expecting since the schedule dropped throw an entire fanbase into crisis, innit?

Listen, I get it. I’ve been shouting down everyone who’s been harshing the vibe while the Vikings racked up a 5-0 record going into the bye. I haven’t shut up about how we’re playing with house money this season, with no expectations and a bright future, and how we should just ride the highs while they’re here. And believe me, a decade-plus of Vikings football has taught me the hard way that when we fall off, we let it hurt bad. But it’s still funny to me that only the homeriest of homers were expecting us to win either game against the Lions this year, and yet people seem surprised it happened.

What went wrong

That’s not to say there isn’t plenty to criticise. One thing we absolutely shouldn’t do is write this off as better-team-won and carry on unchecked. Sam Darnold had his worst game of the year by some distance, and I have to think that, were JJ McCarthy healthy, the chatter about when to give him the reins of this offense would be starting to heat up.

But Darnold is the guy for now, and as much as my attitude to him is the same as the season at large – you gotta ride the highs and take the good with the bad – there’s stuff that urgently needs cleaning up. His refusal to come off reads and go to open receivers underneath was a particular concern, and the pick felt like the polar opposite of that gorgeous layered throw to Jalen Nailor in week 1 of preseason. It’s fixable stuff, but this was a bad day for 14 and it should sting a little.

What about the defense?

Sunday was something of an indignity for Brian Flores, too. This ludicrously fun, league-leading defense wasn’t exactly exposed, but Detroit spamming dagger routes with the level of success they found brought back some unpleasant memories about the last three weeks of 2023, when a makeshift scheme was picked apart with exactly those plays.

There were highlights on this side of the ball – Ivan Pace Jr’s scoop-and-score, Van Ginkel and Greenard keeping up their incredible level of play, Josh Metellus being everywhere – but the game plan straight-up didn’t work, and there didn’t seem to be much of a plan B. Flores seems like he’s permanently on his toes strategically, unwilling to rest on his laurels even when reverting to type might actually be fine, or even better. It’s not the worst quality in a coordinator, but it did us no favours here.

Will the Thrill

I won’t mention special teams, because then I’ll fixate on how maybe we should’ve let Will Reichard try a 73-yard field goal instead of going for the Hail Mary on the last play… because that would be silly… 73 yards! There’s no way he could make that, right? Maybe 67, break the record. Maybe 68, like it was before the penalty. Okay, maybe 70. Could he do 70? I think he could do 70. And 73 is only a little bit more than – OKAY, STOP IT, SHUT UP!

I dunno, man. It’s a weird time! We’re confident in a kicker. We’re excited rather than nervous when the opposition has the ball. We’d probably be having a bit of a quarterback crisis among ourselves if JJ was good to go, but he’s not, so we aren’t, and frankly Darnold has earned at least a few weeks of benefit-of-the-doubt.

So why am I so chill?

I’m hoping to do more of these columns down the line, so I’ll save the daft old story of how I became a Vikings fan for another time, but I’ve been watching properly since 2012 and I’m not sure I’ve witnessed a season with this kind of feeling. The vibe has been so, so good, and we can acknowledge that this was a bad, concerning loss without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I was fortunate enough to be at the Jets game at Tottenham, and even with that being as iffy a performance as it was, there was still so much to love.

It was the same this week – that red-hot start, the fumble recovery TD, Will the Thrill banging the kicks through without even blinking – and there’s every reason to expect more of those moments through the rest of the season. And let’s remember, this season is a free play – we could well have our franchise QB recovering on the sidelines, ready to take over when Darnold gets a massive contract from the Giants or Rams or whoever. I haven’t felt that kind of hope since Teddy (I was proudly sporting my #5 jersey this week), and it’s not even contingent on what happens on a football field until 11 months from now! We can chill! We can enjoy this! Let’s ride the vibe!

I mean we all know we’ll blow it later anyway…

By Charles Wheeler