3 Vikings players that could doom the team’s 2020 playoff hopes

Dan Bailey – K

What would a Vikings season be without the kicking game struggling?

Before Week 13, Dan Bailey had only missed a total of three kicks between all of his field-goal attempts and extra-point tries. But then during Minnesota’s win over the Jaguars last week, Bailey added three more misses to his season total as he failed to convert two of his extra-point tries and one of his field-goal attempts.

If he had only missed one of his extra-point tries, then the Vikings probably wouldn’t have needed overtime to defeat Jacksonville. But his two misses resulted in Minnesota only being up by eight points late in the fourth quarter and the Jaguars were able to tie the score up after a touchdown and a two-point conversion.

Bailey had another chance to help the Vikings avoid overtime last week when he lined up for a 51-yard field goal with 18 seconds left in the fourth quarter. But he missed it and the matchup went to extra time.

Hopefully for Minnesota, these struggles from Bailey are not about to become more frequent. The Vikings will likely be playing in some close games during the next few weeks and a missed extra point or a missed field goal could be something that makes the difference in the team winning or losing.

4 moves that got the Minnesota Vikings back to .500 after Week 13

Now with a 6-6 record after another win in Week 13, what has resulted in the Minnesota Vikings turning their season around?

If anything, Bailey could at least just save his bad misses for the playoffs so that Minnesota’s cycle of heartbreak can continue.