Defenseless

I can’t remember an NFL team being so overmatched on both the offensive and defensive lines as were the Vikings in their Christmas Day loss to the New Orleans Saints. The Minnesota secondary wasn’t much better, either. The Vikings gave us 53 points, the most since 1963, and that number would have been higher had Drew Brees not thrown two interceptions, one bouncing off his receiver’s hands. The Saints not only never had to punt, they almost never faced a third down. Alvin Kamara scored six rushing touchdowns, a record, and could have had seven but for the coach’s decision to keep him off the field when Tayson Hill ran in a two-yard score. A typical running play gained 7 yards, and when Brees passed there was rarely a defender near his receiver. Harrison Smith, usually reliable, missed multiple tackles and looked a step short all day. On the offense, the Vikings had a few quality performers, mainly the receiving corps of Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen and Irv Smith, but qb Kirk Cousins never had the time to throw downfield. The Saints were tricking or finessing the Vikings blockers, they were simply pushing them back into Cousins’s pocket. On one play highlighted on TV, center Garrett Bradbury was backpedaling almost as fast as Cousins, making it impossible for the quarterback to step up to throw.

I’m not one to blame the coach, but in this case we’re faced with this situation. Mike Zimmer is known as a “defensive genius.” He admitted that this was the worst defense he has ever had. If the Vikings are not getting even barely adequate defense from their defense-minded coach, why keep him? He has also been coach long past the NFL-standard sell-buy date. A new coach and a new approach are needed, especially if the Vikings are to be saddled with the immobile, unimaginative Cousins as quarterback for the next few years.

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