Vikings Drop Tough One in Buffalo, 17-16

The Vikings were good enough today to carry a lead late into the game in Buffalo, but not good enough to finish it off.

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In crunch time, the Vikings didn’t get it done. Offensively, they were unable to deliver the knock out punch. Defensively, they were unable to prevent a game-winning drive by Kyle Orton, Sammy Watkins and the Bills.

It looked for all the world like the Vikings had it wrapped up though, when they forced Buffalo into a 4th-and-20 situation. But the Bills were able to convert an unlikely first down thanks to some bad coverage by Chad Greenway.

A huge pass completion down the left sideline from Kyle Orton to Chris Hogan against Xavier Rhodes set the Bills up at the goal line with time running out. It only took one play for Orton to find Sammy Watkins, again working on Xavier Rhodes, to finish it off.

The cardiac Bills seem to like putting together these late-game comebacks. The Vikings, meanwhile, added to their reputation as a team that can’t hold it together in two-minute situations.

You can go to the Vikings’ offensive series before the game-winning TD as well. Minnesota had a chance to pound the ball and run the clock down but they were unable to keep the drive going.

They had a few moments of offensive effectiveness over the course of the day, but overall you have to say it was not a good day for Norv Turner’s unit.

The pass protection was again not very good. Teddy Bridgewater turned it over twice (though only one of the INTs was blatantly on him) and was guilty of a trio of delay-of-game penalties.

On the good side, Bridgewater did manage to get some things going with his receivers, finding Jarius Wright, Greg Jennings and Cordarrelle Patterson for some positive plays.

It was also a nice day for Jerick McKinnon who, outside of some pass blocking issues (again), looked like he belongs as a starting running back in the NFL.

Folks aren’t going to want to focus much on the positives after this one though. When you carry a 16-10 lead late into the game and appear to have the other team on the ropes, you have to finish it off.

You can’t let Kyle Orton burn you. Not when you’ve got them 4th-and-20. That one hurts. Greenway has to answer for what was going on with that play.

You never want to hang blame for a loss on one player, and certainly others failed to do their jobs on that last drive as well, but Greenway’s blunder was so obvious that you have to wonder if he even deserves to start again once Gerald Hodges is healthy.

Sometimes things go wrong and it’s just you getting beat by a better team. And sometimes things go wrong and it’s because you have players on the field who don’t belong on the field in crucial situations.

The Vikings have some players they need to look at and evaluate and ask themselves a hard question: is this guy helping us or hurting us?

Greenway is #1 on that list. What I saw out there from him on that 4th-and-20 is beyond inexcusable. It’s the kind of play that gets a fading veteran benched for good.