Vikings Give Away Possible Win over Lions with Wasted Opportunities

The Minnesota Vikings have found another way to lose a game they should have won, falling 16-14 in a highly entertaining affair with the Detroit Lions. Wasting opportunities again proved to be Minnesota’s undoing.

Highlights show most of what went wrong for the Vikings on the day, because they were the better team for a majority of the game besides one-off plays.

Special teams problems moved to the forefront in the loss, specifically Blair Walsh and the kicking game.

Walsh’s woes started with a 53-yard miss on Minnesota’s first possession. His efficiency from beyond 50 yards, a career 17-22 from that distance entering Sunday’s game, had been his hallmark as an NFL kicker. The first miss left the Vikings with no points to build an early lead, which they would recover from with successful offensive drives soon after.

The most glaring miss from Walsh occurred late in the fourth quarter, with Minnesota up 14-13.

From a miniscule distance of 26 yards out, Walsh kicked the ball with a trajectory far too low, opening himself up to a blocked kick. Jason Jones of the Lions deflected the ball, giving the Vikings no reward for their successful drive once again.

Entering Sunday, Walsh was a perfect 22-of-22 on kicks of less than 30 yards in his career. The blocked kick was a result of his low trajectory and proved very costly for Minnesota.

The Lions mounted a 65-yard drive after the blocked kick, capitalizing on an untimely blunder from Minnesota. Detroit’s offense stalled at the 15-yard line and settled for a go-ahead field goal. If Minnesota had a four-point lead in tow, Matthew Stafford and the Lions would have stared down the barrel of 4th-and-5.

Minnesota then put Walsh in a difficult position, trotting him onto the field for a 68-yard field goal to win it. Walsh took responsibility for his misses after the game, as quoted by KFAN1003:

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Blair Walsh post-game: "It's tough, I miss a kick from 53 that I should easily have, and I came up a little short on that last one."

— KFAN1003 (@KFAN1003) December 15, 2014"

The last miss only highlighted the poor job the Vikings did managing the clock at the end of the game.

To open the ultimate drive, Teddy Bridgewater missed a wide-open Jarius Wright for what would have been a significant gain. Wright also had space to the sideline to stop the clock. Each of the next two receivers were tackled inbounds, draining the clock and leaving Minnesota with no time at the end. Missing the easy throw on first down proved costly.

Two other throws will ultimately stand at the top of the heap of wasted chances.

Leon Halip/Getty Images

Minnesota had the game under its thumb closing in on halftime. Its offense had dominated all yardage measures and succeeded in controlling the possession early on. Its defense had Stafford and the Lions looking for any answer they could find. Bridgewater had even been picking apart a stingy Detroit defense.

Then it fell apart.

The first interception was an overthrown out route to Charles Johnson, which fell into the lap of Detroit safety Glover Quin. Minnesota was on Detroit’s 48-yard line, on the verge of making it a three-score game. Quin’s big return put the Lions on Minnesota’s 11-yard line. They punched it in soon after.

A rattled Bridgewater then threw another pick, one much uglier than the first. The rookie gave his analysis of each after the game, per Master Tesfatsion of the Star Tribune and Andrew Krammer of 1500 ESPN:

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"The 1st was bang-bang play. ...It sailed high over [Johnson's] head. I make that throw 9/10 in practice." -Bridgewater on 1st INT #Vikings

— Master Tesfatsion (@MasterStrib) December 15, 2014"

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Bridgewater on 2nd INT, told reporters: "Horrible throw. I was late. Never want to be late on an out route."

— Andrew Krammer (@Andrew_Krammer) December 15, 2014"

The rookie mistakes sparked a sputtering Lions team and opened the game up, while the Vikings were in full control. Almost every aspect of the first half fell in line with Minnesota’s game plan, then the Vikings gave it all away in a span of a couple of offensive plays.

Inability to let individual mistakes equalize previous advantages had been Minnesota’s undoing in other games too. Whether it’s overall inexperience, youth at the quarterback position or some other combination of factors, the isolated mistakes have kept the Vikings from closing out games.

Finding a way to waste fewer opportunities must be the Vikings' No. 1. Lessening the damage of those missed opportunities would be a start.

With injuries, suspensions and the trials of young players, Minnesota often must play nearly perfect games to win, at least against top-level competition. The team had a divisional game in its hands in a raucous environment but failed to stay out of its own way when it counted most.

Statistics via ESPN.com unless noted otherwise.