With the hopes of starting the 2021 NFL season off on a strong note to jump out in front of the rest of the NFC North and NFC, the start to the new year has gone in the opposite direction for the Minnesota Vikings through two weeks. Going into Week 3 on Sunday, when the Vikings welcome the Seattle Seahawks to Minnesota for their first home game of the season, Minnesota is still searching for its first win of the year with a record of 0-2.
Week 1 resulted in an overtime loss on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals, followed by more heartbreak the week later against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2. Although there are 15 games left for Minnesota to turn things around, every game matters. And the Vikings cannot afford to go much longer without a win.
When it comes to Minnesota’s 0-2 starts, it is not that they lost two games, but the fashion in which the losses have occurred that is concerning.
The Fashion in Which the Minnesota Vikings Losses Have Occurred is Concerning
Week 1 vs. Bengals: Penalties and Costly Turnover
In their season opener on the road, the Vikings had a rough go of it in Cincinnati. Minnesota ultimately fell to the Bengals 27-24 in overtime, but the way the Vikings lost the game was even more disappointing.
Minnesota basically finished behind the pack from the opening kick-off against the Bengals, trailing for most of the game while having to play catch-up to force overtime thanks to a clutch field goal to bring on the extra frame. In the first half, a large number of penalties were the biggest reasons for the Vikings slow start, with the team tallying 10 penalties for 91 yards, including four in the opening drive, while rounding out the game with a total of 12 penalties for 116 yards.
Minnesota did end up making up for those mistakes, climbing back into the season-opening contest and appearing to be sitting in the driver’s seat in overtime to steal a game it probably shouldn’t have even been in at that point. While marching down the field in overtime and advancing the ball into Bengals territory with a few games remaining, Vikings running back Dalvin Cook provided the knockout blow to Minnesota, fumbling the ball and allowing Cincinnati to not only take over but march down the field and win the game.
The Vikings not only dropped the first game of the year to start things off on a sour note, but they blew an opportune chance to steal a game that was up for the taking.
Week 2 vs. Cardinals: Failed Execution
Coming off of a large amount of disappointment from Week 1, Minnesota once again remained on the road in Week 2 to face Arizona in what would end up being an entertaining and back-and-forth contest in the desert. The Vikings came out firing and looked much more impressive in the second game of the year than they did in the first game a week prior.
Yet the game resulted in Minnesota once again coming up just short, leaving the field for the second Sunday in a row with a feeling that it should have been able to come out on top rather than experience defeat. Being two missed field goals, one an extra point and the other a go-ahead game-winner, the Vikings fell to the Cardinals 34-33 in Arizona to drop to 0-2 overall.
Early on in the game, Vikings kicker Greg Joseph botched an extra point which at the time didn’t mean that much. But that extra point could have been incredibly useful at the end of the game, with Minnesota trailing by one with under a minute left to play while having to put together a drive to set up a game-winning score.
The Vikings did end up marching down the field in the fourth quarter, setting up Joseph for a 37-yard field goal that would win the game in the final seconds. Instead, the kicker missed the near chip-in field goal resulting in Minnesota ending another game with extreme disappointment.
Looking Ahead to Week 3 vs Seahawks
Although the Vikings did look better in Week 2 than they did in Week 1, having fixed penalty issues and turnover problems in key points in the game, Minnesota did manage to fail in execution when it mattered most to move to a winless mark through two weeks. And kicking issues are all too familiar to the Vikings and their fans.
Minnesota will hope to bounce back and finally turn things around in Week 3 when Seattle comes to Minneapolis. Although this week is a fresh slate to try and come out victorious for the first time, the team still does have some work to do in order to erase an early 0-2 hole. And the tough part for the Vikings hasn’t been that they have indeed lost those two games, but how they’ve lost two contests that could have easily gone the other way.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
