Are the Vikings for real?

[Jakuvious]

On 12/18/2022 at 11:00 AM, Yin-Yang said:

Why would they? Brady’s an all-time clutch player. Mahomes has an all-time record when trailing. 

The comeback was crazy impressive. Kirk’s shedding his demons a little bit this year, but that still puts him well short of some of the other guys that he’s purposely not being compared to.

This. People mix up bias with reputation. People aren't biased against Cousins, we just have a decade worth of tape on Cousins. He has earned the reputation that he has. One year isn't going to override a decade of evidence. Otherwise we'd be talking about Geno Smith as an elite QB right now too.

[notthatbluestuff]

On 12/20/2022 at 11:55 PM, Jakuvious said:

This. People mix up bias with reputation. People aren't biased against Cousins, we just have a decade worth of tape on Cousins. He has earned the reputation that he has. One year isn't going to override a decade of evidence. Otherwise we'd be talking about Geno Smith as an elite QB right now too.

The Brady/Mahomes comparison wasn't a good one, I admit it - but my point is that this "reputation" you speak of with Cousins is being defied before our very eyes this season but he's constantly being played down. We've always heard "he has to win in big moments, he has to lead comebacks, he has to win in prime time" and then he does and somehow, it doesn't count due to the preconceptions people already have about him. "Well, now let's see him lead a comeback in a big moment in the playoffs" - if he does, people will probably talk more about the "defense crumbling" or something rather than give credit to Cousins. 

I'm not saying we should consider Cousins an elite QB or anything, I just think he should get more credit for this season.

[ILoveTheVikings]

11-0 in 1 score games

9 (I believe) 4th quarter comebacks

Kirk Cousins has led them of.

Eat crap, Zimmer@!

[vikesfan89]

2 hours ago, ILoveTheVikings said:

 

Eat crap, Zimmer@!

🙄

[Tex]

At some point all these close games will catch up. Won't work out for them in January vs the Eagles, Cowboys or 49ers.

[Fish]

6 hours ago, Tex said:

At some point all these close games will catch up. Won't work out for them in January vs the Eagles, Cowboys or 49ers.

this

[Sad People]

We have like 5 wins against teams who are in the playoffs as we stand today, with another 5 wins coming from teams who are in the playoff hunt. 2 out of our 3 losses have also come from teams who are already in the playoffs with the other one coming from Detroit who again is right in the thick of things.

This team has been playing in a playoff type of atmosphere all year. Id also be willing to guess that more often than not actual playoff games, in January, are closer to 1 score games than blowing out your opponent by 30+ points.

[Calamity_Cometh]

I can't argue with the results anymore. They keep winning. They are certainly flawed but they keep gritting out victories and maybe that edge will be a boon in the playoffs, rather than a burden.

Their ticket is punched. We'll soon see in a few weeks.

[biggie.]

29 minutes ago, mattyice0401 said:

We have like 5 wins against teams who are in the playoffs as we stand today, with another 5 wins coming from teams who are in the playoff hunt. 2 out of our 3 losses have also come from teams who are already in the playoffs with the other one coming from Detroit who again is right in the thick of things.

This team has been playing in a playoff type of atmosphere all year. Id also be willing to guess that more often than not actual playoff games, in January, are closer to 1 score games than blowing out your opponent by 30+ points.

And let's remember, the 2003 Panthers did thensame exact thing and were a few minutes away from winning the Super Bowl.

[iknowcool]

On 12/23/2022 at 6:25 AM, notthatbluestuff said:

I'm not saying we should consider Cousins an elite QB or anything, I just think he should get more credit for this season.

Why?  It is probably his worst season since he became a Viking.  Before this recent 3-game stretch against mediocre to bad defenses, he had a sub-90 QB rating with 18 TDs to 9 INTs.  And the eye test fits too, although the comeback against the Colts was great (haven't seen any of the Giants game/throws).

Credit to the Vikings for pulling out so many close victories, but I can't see any reason to buy in on them being a serious threat.  Even their offense isn't as good as their points scored would reflect.  Of the teams in the top 10 for scoring, they have by far the lowest Yards Per Play average at 5.3 (next closest is Bengals/Cowboys at 5.6).  Cowboys are 7th in points allowed.  Bengals are 8th in points allowed.  Vikings are 28th in points allowed.  Giants just had maybe their best offensive performance of the season against them, a common theme for any Vikings opponent.  And in general, the Vikings offense isn't as efficient as you would think.  They are a solid offense with a bottom-5 defense.  Not a good formula for winning in the postseason.

[Sad People]

Another posters work so i cant take credit but wanted to repost it here,

Kirk Cousins stats after that Dallas butt whopping, 150/215 (69.8%), for 1,656 yards, 13 TDs, and 3 interceptions. With a 106.7 passer rating

Edited December 25, 2022 by mattyice0401

[stl4life07]

It took a 61yd FG at the buzzer at home to beat the struggling Giants. So they didn’t take that “greatest comeback in NFL history” and build off it. Not saying they should’ve blown out the Giants but at least don’t let the game come down to a 61yd FG to win.

Vikings fans should fear either the Vikings getting beat in round one by a team that barely got in or if they do win get blown out in round two by one of the better teams like Philly, Dallas, or SF. 

[vikingsrule]

2 hours ago, stl4life07 said:

It took a 61yd FG at the buzzer at home to beat the struggling Giants. So they didn’t take that “greatest comeback in NFL history” and build off it. Not saying they should’ve blown out the Giants but at least don’t let the game come down to a 61yd FG to win.

Vikings fans should fear either the Vikings getting beat in round one by a team that barely got in or if they do win get blown out in round two by one of the better teams like Philly, Dallas, or SF. 

I’m not worried so much about round one. They’ve already beaten those teams (Giants, Commanders), though not convincingly. Those teams made a ton of mistakes that the Vikes capitalized from. Who knows how it goes a second time but MN has proven to have more grit than any team in the league this year.

However, my concern is an emotional win in the first round, because that’s how they all are this year, battles to the end, to then proceed to come out flat against Dallas or SF and lose by 3 TDs.

The offense shutting down in the second and third quarters as is routine this year won’t work in the playoffs. Fix that issue and they can compete and beat anyone this year. This issue has existed since September so I’m not confident they will fix it any time soon.

Edited December 25, 2022 by vikingsrule

[General Tso]

I hope they are real enough to beat the Packers a 2nd time.

[stl4life07]

11 minutes ago, vikingsrule said:

I’m not worried so much about round one. They’ve already beaten those teams (Giants, Commanders), though not convincingly. Those teams made a ton of mistakes that the Vikes capitalized from. Who knows how it goes a second time but MN has proven to have more grit than any team in the league this year.

However, my concern is an emotional win in the first round, because that’s how they all are this year, battles to the end, to then proceed to come out flat against Dallas or SF and lose by 3 TDs.

The offense shutting down in the second and third quarters as is routine this year won’t work in the playoffs. Fix that issue and they can compete and beat anyone this year. This issue has existed since September so I’m not confident they will fix it any time soon.

Well the good news is the playoffs is all about survive and advance. Being in a lot of close games can help. Last season when the Rams struggled to beat the Vikings and Ravens that helped them in the playoffs when they had to barely pull it out against the Bucs late and had to come from behind down 10pts in the 4th quarter against both the Niners and Bengals to win the Superbowl.

The difference though between the Rams and the Vikings is I don’t see that one or two guys on defense that will not allow the team to lose. Like I don’t see a Donald or Von on defense that will just take over a game late and shutdown a team no matter who the opponent is. Offense can catch fire and we know the kicker can make big clutch kicks but the defense need to buckle down especially against the top tier teams in the NFC.