Friday Open Thread: November 5, 2021

FINALLY Friday

Merry Friday, everyone!

The weekend is nearly upon us! The picture up top. Nope, it hasn’t worn off yet, still feels great to see my team finish on top.

So, it’s been a few days now, and I can finally digest some of Sunday’s game and talk about it without regurgitating. Some quick thoughts:

1. The offense. Stinky. After the first drive, it was the definition of impotent. Cousins was off, was crumbling under pressure, something he hadn’t been doing this season…until Sunday. The running game was working fairly well, so I’m not sure why we got away from that, especially with the QB withering back there. This comment brings us to number 2 (yes, I mean number 2 in more ways than one).
2. Coaching. Stinky. Zim made some glaring mistakes in this game with clock management and that senile moment double-timeout thing. I don’t know how much of the offense’s woes to place on Kubiak, because I don’t think the plays were designed to be executed as they were. Without having insider knowledge, it’s just a guess, so I won’t bother. I’ll assume at least some of the blame can go to him.
3. The defense. They didn’t smell pretty, but they weren’t a horrific stench, either. When you hold a team to 20 points, you should win, BUT when you’re going up against Cooper Rush (WTF?), you shouldn’t allow over 300 yards passing. Great job bottling up Zeke, not so great job stopping the pass. That last drive was bad, but that 50 yard catch was also pure luck.

On to Baltimore. Find a way to win on Sunday, and they’re back to .500 and likely back in the playoff picture. Get into the playoffs however you can, and get hot, and see what happens. It ain’t over, but it ain’t pretty, either. SKOL!

Around the DN since our last open thread:

Podcasts: Luft Krigare posted Vikings Happy Hour – A Therapy Session, and reidellr4 posted Unbelievable! – Keeping Up With Lamar.

Other Minnesota Vikings news, NFL news and random oddities and annoyances:

As everyone already knows, A-a-ron Rodgers has tested positive for Covid19, @despite being immunized@, and will not play against the Chiefs.

CBS Sports looks at a list of rules that Rodgers may have violated, and whether he may be penalized. I’ll go with “a snowball’s chance in the pit of hades” for the odds of him being punished.

Again, we all know the rules, but in case someone is new:

-No discussion of politics or religion
-No feeding of the trolls
-Leave the gender hatred at the door
-Keep the bad language to a minimum (using the spoiler tags, if you must)
-Speaking of which, if discussing a newer show or movie, please use spoiler tags
-No pictures that could get someone fired or in serious trouble with their employer
-If you can’t disagree in a civil manner, feel free to go away
-While navigating the open thread, just assume it’s sarcasm.

With that, the bar light is on and the thread is open. Don’t forget to tip the cows, and try the tiger meat.