Minnesota Vikings quickly prepare to redeem themselves in Los Angeles

The Minnesota Vikings, embarrassed on Sunday by the 0-2 Buffalo Bills, face a short practice week in preparing for a road game against the 3-0 Los Angeles Rams and the opportunity to swiftly put the loss behind them.

Late Sunday afternoon, across the ‘Land of 10,000 Lakes’, paraphernalia of purple-and-gold could be seen littering the landscape. Minnesota Vikings fans had just watched their beloved team humiliated by the seemingly hapless Buffalo Bills in a game they were favored to favored to win by more than two touchdowns.

The Bills marched down the field with the game’s first series and scored. Moments later, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was strip-sacked in his own red zone, and the Bills pounced on the ball, adding another quick touchdown to make it 14-0.

On the next Vikings possession, Cousins was strip-sacked again. The Bills turned a quick possession into a field goal.

It was 17-0, still in the first quarter.

That’s the end of this game review. To go on would be mundane and redundant. We all saw the game. It wasn’t just a massive disappointment, it was a disaster, a nightmare.

But it’s still just one loss. One loss, that in its emotional toll of the Viking faithful, those discouraged fans that pushed purple beer glasses back onto the top shelf, would not even be the biggest upset of the football day.

Instead, that distinction would go to the Detroit Lions–perhaps the one team rated lower than the Bills–who dominated the immortal Tom Brady-led New England Patriots.

The question for this short week is: Are the Vikings on to Los Angeles?

A Sense Of Urgency

Whether or not the Vikings players did not take the Bills seriously (and head coach Zimmer assured the press they did not) they were out-played, out-hit, and out-hustled from the beginning. Buffalo played with a chip on their shoulder pads and they left those chips on the field of U.S. Bank Stadium.

A full week under the scrutiny from the omnipresent NFL media would have been the worst thing for Minnesota. After all, this is a team–and a much-praised defense–that has been whipped in previous seasons by offenses they didn’t know much about.

In 2015, the Seattle Seahawks beat the Vikings at home 35-7. In 2016, the Indy Colts came to U.S. Bank and won 34-6. And, of course, there was the 2017 NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles, which ended 38-7.

Minnesota Vikings

That’s what the Vikings have to look forward to for a couple of days. It’s inevitable. Along those shadows of history will be inquisitions about Kirk Cousins leadership abilities, Vikings offensive line infirmities, and Mike Zimmer’s aptitude moving forward.

But let’s remember that last year, the Minnesota Vikings played a brilliant game against the team they will face on Thursday night. At home, in Week 11, they held the Rams number one offense to 254 total yards while compiling 451. They held running back Todd Gurley to 37 yards on 15 carries, while rushing for 171 as a team.

Are they now a broken team that can’t travel? I doubt it. I also doubt that their awful play on Sunday is the harbinger of a grand diminishment in one pretty damn good football team.

Mike Zimmer’s unofficial mentor, Bill Parcells, once said about his tumultuous experience as the New York Giants’ head coach:

“In New York, there are two things, euphoria and disaster.”

Three days from now, Zimmer and the Vikings will at least get the chance to prove that Minnesota isn’t much different.