Let's Talk Vikings: Vikings' Lead Fizzles in Loss to Bucs

The Vikings looked amazing in the first half, but blew it (once again) in the 2nd half. After a 90 yard drive, the first points were scored by the Vikings on an Adrian Peterson 1 yard touchdown. In the early part of the 2nd quarter, Ryan Longwell kicked a 22 yard field goal. Later in the 2nd quarter, Adrian Peterson ran it in again, this time from 9 yards. At halftime, the score was 17-0, Vikings. But an all too familiar story began to erupt again. A 27 yard touchdown run by Tampa Bay RB Lagarratte Blount narrowed the Vikings' lead down to 10. Following the score, the Buccaneers recovered a surprise onside kick, which the capitalized on by kicking a 36 yard field goal. The Vikings' lead was down to 7 points. Early in the 4th quarter, Ryan Longwell kicked a field goal, bringing the Vikings' lead back up to 10 points. The Bucs scored a touchdown midway through the 4th quarter, decreasing the Vikings lead to only a field goal. With 35 seconds to go in the game, Lagarratte Blount ran it in from 4 yards out, to give the Bucs the lead and eventually, the victory.

Statiscally the Vikings should have won. Donovan McNabb was 17/29 on pass attempts, for 203 yards. He also ran 4 times for 12 yards. Adrian Peterson ran 25 times for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns. On defense, the Vikings sacked Bucs QB Josh Freeman 2 times and hit him 5 other times. Hussein Abdullah also recorded the only Vikings interception.

Vikings Mistakes:

1. There was an offsides penalty on Vikings DE Brian Robinson, which negated what would have been a fumble recovery for the Vikings. Had this penalty not occured, the Vikings would have started with the ball at the Buccaneers 10 yard line. Also, it would have stopped the momentum the Bucs had in the 2nd half. The next play, the Bucs threw a 51 yard pass, followed shortly by a field goal.

2. Near the beginning of the 4th quarter, the Bucs threw a 21 yard pass play, and a roughing the passer penalty on Jared Allen was tacked on to the play, making it a 36 yard play, total. Later in the drive, the Bucs scored a touchdown.

3. On the Bucs last drive, it became fairly obvious that the Buccaneers were going to score. With less than 2 minutes, the Bucs were quickly moving down the field inside the Vikings 30 yard line. As the Bucs kept getting first downs, the time kept ticking. Vikings coach Leslie Frazier had faith in his defense to stop the Bucs, but they couldn't, while time was ticking off. As a result, when the Vikings got the ball back, they only had about 20 seconds to score. I would have taken some timeouts, this would that have stopped the Bucs' momentum, given the Vikings more time at the end, and given the Vikings defense a chance to regroup.

To conclude, the Vikings looked great in the 1st half and looked like an amazing team, but in the 2nd half, the Vikings couldn't finish the game and let their lead slip away. 

Next week the Vikings take on the 2-0, Detroit Lions.