DETROIT, MI - DECEMBER 23: Dalvin Cook #33 of the Minnesota Vikings is tackled by Quandre Diggs #28 of the Detroit Lions in the third quarter at Ford Field on December 23, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) Mike Remmers /
The bad things from Week 16
An ice-cold start. The first four drives for the Minnesota Viking were brutal, to say the least. The first three were three and out and the fourth didn’t get much traction at all. At one point, the Lions had 9 points on the board while the purple and gold only had five yards of total offense.
More undisciplined football. Illegal contact, false start, pass interference, holding, and more kept the Lions drives going when they should have stalled. Minnesota has struggled with this over the course of the season and they will need to clean it up to have any chance at the playoffs. 11 penalties for 78 yards will put any team in a bad spot.
What is the deal? The Vikings shouldn’t be having more success running to the left than the right, but it’s disappointing that Mike Remmers is so ineffective at right guard. Add in a pair of bad penalties, and you’ve got a player who should be considered a cap casualty for next season.
Timeout vs. sneak. To put the game away, the Vikings tried a quarterback sneak with around two minutes left in the game. Kirk Cousins picked up the needed yardage, but a timeout was called from the Minnesota sideline. When play resumed, Latavius Murray lost yards on the run, turning the ball over on downs.
Converting. This week, the Vikings struggled on third and fourth downs, picking up only four of the 14 tries the team had. The Lions struggled as well, picking up five of their 19 tries, but it would still be nice to see Minnesota’s numbers be a bit better when it comes to picking up those first downs.
