Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings: Full Report-Card Grades for Minnesota
It was an absolutely beautiful day for football in Minneapolis.
The football itself? Not at all beautiful. The complete opposite of beautiful. In fact, it was about as ugly as football gets.
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater threw three interceptions and was sacked eight times as the Vikings offense was completely horrific in a 17-3 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium.
The Vikings fell to 2-4 on the season but showed such incompetence on offense that the record might quickly become irrelevant. Adrian Peterson isn't walking through that door anytime soon.
It was a rough day for Minnesota's rookie quarterback, but he was certainly no worse than anyone else on the Vikings offense. The Vikings gained just 212 yards of offense and struggled in every single facet of the game.
It should now be officially alarming for the Vikings that in their four losses they've averaged just 6.5 points a game. Either Adrian Peterson was even better than everybody thought or the Vikings have severe issues on their offensive line and with their receiving corps.
It's now three different quarterbacks who have been involved with that 6.5 yards-per-game average. One might wonder if even Peyton Manning could do much with the Vikings line and receivers surrounding him.
Minnesota was facing a Lions team that was missing two of its best players on offense in Calvin Johnson and Reggie Bush. They had a golden opportunity to play an undermanned Detroit team at home with a chance to go to 3-3 and have momentum heading into a soft spot on the schedule.
Instead, they leave with a 2-4 record and an offense that looks to be in complete tatters.
Getting demolished by the Packers was easy to write off, as a short week combined with a quarterback who simply isn't NFL material.
Sunday's defeat at the hands of the shorthanded Lions brings up far bigger issues. Adrian Peterson is gone from the Vikings lineup, and the rest of the league knows it. The Lions showed no respect for a Vikings running game that doesn't warrant any, and simply pinned their ears back and attacked a rookie quarterback.
The Lions offense was mediocre at best, but looked like world-beaters by comparison. Detroit gained just 255 yards of offense, but it was more than enough, as their defense toyed with the Vikings offense all afternoon.
Sunday's game felt like it was going to be a turning point for the Vikings one way or another. A win would have put them at .500 and ready to contend in their division.
Instead they lost in a miserable fashion that could be pretty ominous for the rest of the season.
Quarterback
1 of 10
"Teddy called today an eye opener
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) October 12, 2014"
For Vikings fans, Sunday's loss to the Lions was the exact opposite of that. Just close your eyes and move on to something else as fast as you can.
Christian Ponder didn't play on Sunday, right? Dare we call him Teddy Pondwater, just for the day?
Believe it or not, things started out okay for Minnesota's offense. On their first drive, the Vikings drove the ball down to the Lions' 15-yard line before Bridgewater had even attempted a pass.
On first down from the 15, Bridgewater tried to hit Cordarrelle Patterson in the end zone, but he never saw the safety help on the inside and Glover Quin stepped in front of Patterson for an easy interception.
It was a rookie mistake, but Vikings fans probably all shrugged it off and thought, "No big deal, we drove down the field pretty easily, we'll be back."
Nope.
Not by a long shot.
The Vikings offense would gain just 168 more yards on the day.
We won't sugarcoat it, Bridgewater had a bad day. What we will say is that he wasn't any worse than any of the other 10 guys on offense.
While Bridgewater looked poised and confident in the pocket against the Falcons in his first start, he looked completely overwhelmed against the Lions.
No, he never had much time to even set up and look around, but he didn't adjust well to the diminished time, either.
The Vikings defense kept them in the game for far longer than they deserved to be, but Bridgewater and the offense never showed any glimpse that they could move the ball and score any points.
Bridgewater finished 23-of-37 for 188 yards. He threw three interceptions and was sacked eight times in route to an abysmal 41.3 quarterback rating.
He held on to the ball for far too long and didn't look to escape his crumbling pocket nearly early enough. Granted, he wasn't really ever given any easy escape routes, but when a mobile quarterback recognizes he isn't going to be allotted much time, he needs to bail from the pocket much earlier.
It's certainly not the end of the world for Bridgewater. He played poorly, but he had zero help around him. In the end, the Vikings have to hope that Bridgewater learned from his mistakes today and that he becomes a better player for them.
Grade: D-
(And yes, we'll fully admit that if Ponder had played the exact same game, we'd have failed him without a second thought. Fair? Nope, it's the NFL. In fact, we'll say that the only reason he doesn't get an F is that at least he saved us from watching another Ponder game.)
Running Back
2 of 10
The absence of No. 28 for the Minnesota Vikings was never more apparent than in Sunday's dismal loss to the Lions.
The Vikings rushed for just 69 yards and 21 of those were on a reverse to Jarius Wright. They averaged just 2.8 yards per carry on the other 17 rushes.
The Vikings offensive line was completely manhandled by the Lions defense. The running backs had zero room to run, but when you have Adrian Peterson on your team, he'll find places to run regardless.
Without him, NFL defenses are going to show zero respect to the Vikings running game. Why should they? The Lions knew Minnesota couldn't run on them and simply pinned their ears back and attacked a rookie quarterback.
The Vikings finally went with rookie Jerick McKinnon over Matt Asiata as the main running back, but he simply never had anywhere to go.
Fox analyst Brendon Ayanbadejo at one point said that McKinnon ran like Peterson, which led to anyone still watching the game to mumble, "What did he just say?" We mention that only to bring up the point that the announcers gave the Vikings offense a run for the money for the worst performance of the day.
McKinnon was at least effective out of the backfield, catching six passes for 42 yards. Asiata had one catch for 18 yards but had another pass bounce off his hands and fall into the waiting arms of a Lions linebacker Tahir Whitehead.
The Vikings running backs didn't have anyone help them out. Having said that, they certainly didn't remind anyone of Adrian Peterson. (Except Ayanbadejo.)
Grade: D-
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
This is the slide where we're supposed to grade the Vikings wide receivers.
One is tempted to ask the question, "What wide receivers?"
The Vikings starting duo of Greg Jennings and Cordarrelle Patterson combined for zero catches in the first half.
Tight end Chase Ford was mildly effective with four catches for 37 yards.
The rest of the receiving corps was completely awful.
They can't get open and they can't catch—other than that they're great. (Even that might not be true, as Greg Jennings looked to give a little less than maximum effort in trying to get first-down yardage after a catch.)
"Yeah, that bugged me too. RT @JacobBooth32: @AjKFAN Greg Jennings didn't even attempt to get the first down.
— Aj Mansour (@AjKFAN) October 12, 2014"
Jennings has been flat-out miserable for the Vikings this season, and it's not at all too early to call him a gigantic bust of a free-agent signing.
He was getting no love from Vikings media on Twitter:
"Quoth Greg Jennings: ``You can't throw yourself the ball.'' But you can drop it all by yourself.
— Jim Souhan (@SouhanStrib) October 12, 2014"
"I would cut Greg Jennings after the game. Looks like he signed a no compete when he left the Pack.
— Judd P. Berthiaume (@jpberthiaume) October 12, 2014"
"Greg Jennings gets his first catch of the game in the 4th quarter for the second straight game. #Vikings
— Andrew Krammer (@Andrew_Krammer) October 12, 2014"
Patterson was again a no-show for the Vikings offense, catching just two passes for 15 yards. His inability to get open on routes has been a hot topic on Twin Cities sports-talk radio, and he did nothing to quiet that talk.
What also must be talked about is the Vikings coaches' inability to figure out other ways to get the ball in his hands. Where are the bubble screens or jet sweeps? He's the best offensive threat the Vikings have, and they aren't getting him the ball.
Far too many plays early in the game saw Bridgewater desperately looking for anyone to throw the ball to only to throw it away or get sacked. Far too many replays showed no Vikings receivers getting open.
The Vikings don't have a No. 1 receiver. They don't have a No. 2 receiver, either.
That's not good.
Grade: F
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
This is the slide where we're supposed to grade the Vikings offensive line.
One is tempted to ask the question, "What offensive line?"
"For all the money and draft picks spent on the OL, the Vikings are terrible up front.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) October 12, 2014"
We felt the picture above was the perfect one to capture how much help Teddy Bridgewater's offensive line gave him on Sunday afternoon.
Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer made news this August when he publicly questioned the methods of Pro Football Focus in grading NFL players, not knowing who was assigned what.
Nobody needs any football sabermetricians to break down tape of the Vikings offensive line play against the Lions. They were awful.
Unless their assignments were to wish the likes of Ziggy Ansah, George Johnson and Ndamukong Suh good luck on their way to Bridgewater, they failed. And they failed miserably.
Zimmer would agree, as he ripped into his team following the game, according to A.J. Mansour of KFAN.com.
The Lions racked up eight sacks and 11 tackles for loss in limiting the Vikings offense to anemic 212 yards.
The running backs had nowhere to run. The quarterback had no time to throw.
The Vikings offensive line went up against the top-ranked defense in football and got punched in the mouth over and over and over.
Grade: F
Defensive Line
5 of 10
"Vikings defense line is playing its best game of the year. Matthew Stafford is under immediate and constant pressure.
— Paul Charchian (@PaulCharchian) October 12, 2014"
There is absolutely no doubt that the Vikings defense deserved a better fate on Sunday afternoon.
Facing a Lions offense that was missing its two best players in Calvin Johnson and Reggie Bush, they put the clamps on the Lions and limited them to just 255 yards of offense.
The problem for the Vikings defense was that if they weren't going to score themselves, they were going to lose.
For the fifth straight week, the Vikings defense held one of the NFL's top passers to under 300 yards passing, keeping Matthew Stafford to just 185 yards and one touchdown.
They held the Lions rushing game to just 100 yards on carries.
Once again, the Vikings defense deserved better.
Tom Johnson and Everson Griffen both had sacks, and Linval Joseph and Brian Robison each had a half sack.
The defensive line wasn't great, but they did a pretty good job. Joseph, Griffen and Robison were active all day long, and rookie Shamar Stephen had some good reps in the middle. Sharrif Floyd appeared to be injured a couple of different times, but he never left the game for good.
The Vikings defensive line played well enough to win. They got gashed on a few runs, but for the most part they held the Lions runners in check and had very good pressure on Stafford all day long.
If you hold a high-octane offense to 17 points, you should at least have a chance to win.
Grade: B
Linebacker
6 of 10
Playing without Chad Greenway (their leading tackler for the last decade) for the third straight game, the Vikings linebackers continued to improve and are becoming one of the strengths of the team.
Rookie Anthony Barr and Gerald Hodges bring speed to a group that's lacked it for far too long. They had seven and six tackles respectively and were both quick to the ball and hitting with authority all day long.
Hodges also had two passes defensed.
"Good time for Zimmer to dial up the blitz there; Brinkley gets his first career sack.
— Ben Goessling (@GoesslingESPN) October 12, 2014"
Jasper Brinkley had one of his better games as a pro, registering his first NFL sack and adding another tackle for loss.
Minnesota's linebacker trio had 20 tackles combined and did a good job of snuffing out several Detroit screens. Both Hodges and Barr are getting quite good at allowing receptions short of the first down and then doing a sure job of tackling players short of the marker.
Detroit finished the day just 1-for-13 on third-down conversions.
Try to wrap your head around those numbers: The Vikings defense held the Lions to just 255 yards of total offense, just 185 yards passing and 1-for-13 on third down.
And they were never even in the game.
Grade: B+
Secondary
7 of 10
The Vikings secondary had a rough first drive on Sunday.
Detroit picked up 69 yards through the air during their first possession, and their backs were making Vikings defensive backs miss in the open field.
Theo Riddick capped off the drive with a nine yard touchdown to put the Lions on top 7-0.
The Vikings secondary gave up just 119 yards passing the rest of the day.
Against a quarterback like Matthew Stafford, that's downright exceptional. Golden Tate's longest reception of the day was for just 12 yards. Tight end Eric Ebron caught just two passes for 23 yards.
Once again, Captain Munnerlyn, Xavier Rhodes, Harrison Smith and Robert Blanton were all over the field, not only making tackles but hitting with authority. When Lions receivers made plays, and they made very few of them on Sunday, they paid for them.
The Vikings had no interceptions, but Munnerlyn and Rhodes both had a pass defensed.
Minnesota's defense clearly has no margin for error if the Vikings want to win games. The secondary had one bad series against the Lions, but it was one more than they could afford.
Grade: B
Special Teams
8 of 10
Vikings kicker Blair Walsh accounted for all the team's scoring, making a 40-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter to keep the Vikings from getting shut out for the first time in their 106-game history with the Lions, according to ProFootballReference.com.
Though it was ultimately meaningless, Walsh's value was confirmed by just looking across the field at the Lions' kicking woes. Newly signed Matt Prater missed two out of three field-goal attempts and almost kept the Vikings in the game by himself.
Vikings punter Jeff Locke was merely average on the day, punting seven times and averaging only 42.3 yards per kick. He was outclassed by his counterpart with the Lions, Sam Martin, who averaged 48.7 yards on the same number of kicks.
The Vikings return men and coverage units had quiet days, with no big plays coming on special teams.
Grade: C
Coaching
9 of 10
Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer's steady simmer is set to boil over. The following are tweets from media after Zimmer's post-game presser following the Vikings' pathetic performance against the Lions:
"Tom Powers: Mike Zimmer about to drop hammer on Vikings - http://t.co/bopZkbCY92 #Vikings pic.twitter.com/s0htdvjZPh
— Pioneer Press (@PioneerPress) October 12, 2014"
"After hearing Mike Zimmer talk. If I was a Viking I'd be a little scared. Like "dad's on his way home and we just broke a lamp" scared.
— Dave Schwartz (@Dave_Schwartz) October 12, 2014"
"Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer rips his 'extremely disappointing' team --> http://t.co/ArQHF8hVrI #NFL
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) October 12, 2014"
There's just no way around it, it was an ugly loss, especially for a team coming off of a long weekend and playing their first game in 10 days.
The defense was pretty good and certainly deserved to at least be part of a close game. The offense was a disaster and looks to be imploding.
They have an offensive line that can't block and receivers who can't get open or catch the ball when it's thrown to them.
Rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was hung out to dry by his offensive line and his receivers, and the Vikings are lucky he wasn't injured while getting sacked eight times by the Lions.
With a rookie starting at quarterback, the Vikings are in need of other veteran players to step up and lead, and they're not getting that, especially on offense.
Norv Turner is supposed to be an offensive mastermind, and he has a resume that backs that up, but he's got to figure out a way to get the ball into Cordarrelle Patterson's hands more often. If he can't get open downfield, get him some bubble screens or jet sweeps.
The offensive line is currently a disaster. They've been spoiled by blocking for one of the best running backs to ever play the game and in his absence, the team is doing nothing on offense. The coaches have to realize this and either figure out new ways to move the ball or find new players who can do the job.
The Vikings have had virtually no offense for consecutive games and have averaged just 6.5 points a game in their four losses. That can't be all on the players.
We aren't failing them, because it's our belief that the coaching is better than the offensive line and receivers at this point, but it's getting harder to tell the difference.
Grade: D
Overall Grade
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| Quarterback | D- |
| Running Back | D- |
| Wide Receiver and Tight End | F |
| Offensive Line | F |
| Defensive Line | B |
| Linebacker | B+ |
| Secondary | B |
| Special Teams | C |
| Coaching | D= |
Overall Grade: F
We're not exactly sure what the average of the grades above would work out to be; we'll simply say that the F's applied to the offensive line and receivers were so strong that they dragged the entire team into F territory.
The defense had perhaps one-and-a-half bad series but was just fine other than that.
The rookie quarterback suffered some growing pains and didn't play great—although we're not sure Peyton Manning could have done much given the time Bridgewater was.
Mike Zimmer indicated after the game that there is a bad vibe being set in the locker room, and it sounds like he's ready to nip that in the bud immediately, according to Brian Hall of FoxSportsNorth.com.
"Mike Zimmer "can't figure out" his team and reveals he's fined players for being late/missing meetings http://t.co/v4DDe8PF4Y #Vikings
— Brian Hall (@MNBrianHall) October 12, 2014"
It's not hyperbole to say the Vikings' season may be at a tipping point. This was a game they had every opportunity to win if their offense had given them anything, but it didn't.
At 2-4, they now play a stretch of three winnable games against Buffalo, Tampa Bay and Washington, but they won't win any of them if they play like they did on Sunday.
It's a Vikings season that took a huge hit when they lost their best player, Adrian Peterson, to the exempt list. They got a shot in the arm from Bridgewater when he played brilliantly in his starting debut against the Falcons, but he took a step backwards today.
Truth be told, he was shoved backwards by the likes of Suh, Fairley and Ansah, but he wasn't good. His line was worse.
Things are about to get very unpleasant for the players at Winter Park. They deserve whatever they get.
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