Upon Further Review: Not much worked for Vikings against Colts

Well, that was just one of those games …

The Minnesota Vikings suffered a 28-11 road loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday and not much worked for the purple and gold. Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins had an unimpressive outing, going 11-for-26 for 113 yards and three interceptions and the Vikings’ running game could only grind out 80 yards.

Add those up, throw in the 18 yards the Vikings lost by allowing three sacks, and Minnesota finished with 175 total yards. Compare to the 354 yards the Colts gained and … that’s how you lose a game.

Indianapolis recorded a safety on Cousins in the second quarter too, marking the second straight week Minnesota has allowed a safety. Incidentally, it has also been the second straight week the Vikings have lost by more than two scores.

Colts quarterback Philip Rivers played good but not great, logging 214 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception. Almost half of that yardage went to former Virginia Commonweath University basketball star-turned NFL tight end Mo Alie-Cox, who had five catches for 111 yards.

Sometimes nothing works in a football game. Unfortunately the Vikings have had two of those games and it has only been two weeks.

Here’s a recap of Sunday’s game (Story | Photos):

PLAYER OF THE GAME

All things considered, Dalvin Cook played pretty well. He finished with 14 rushes for 63 yards (4.5 ypc) and evaded three defenders to score an impressive touchdown.

?‍??‍??‍?@dalvincook with his third score of the season.

?: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/5TavMcbVQa

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 20, 2020

Cook managed to salvage a decent outing in Indy, but it would have been interesting to see how the offense could have functioned if he was more involved in the passing game early on since he only had two catches for eight yards on two targets.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME

It was nice to see Yannick Ngakoue flash as a Viking with three tackles and a sack. His third quarter sack fumble showcased his remarkable speed and get off from the line of scrimmage. A play like that can swing a game if the ball bounces the right way.

Yeah, @YannickNgakoue is QUICK!

?: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/YbfB4hp8s4

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 20, 2020

THAT MOMENT

Down 7-3 and backed up to their own five yard line with 5:01 left in the first half, Cousins and the Vikings faced a third down with seven yards to go. A first-down completion extends the drive and possibly could have been the starting point of a momentum-shifting drive, and an incompletion obviously would not have been great but it hardly would have been disastrous.

Neither of those two outcomes happened. Cousins did drop back to throw but was under quick pressure from the Colts and subsequently got sacked by DeForest Buckner in the end zone for a safety. That made the score 9-3 Indianapolis with 4:54 on the clock.

WELCOME TO INDY, DEFOREST BUCKNER!

? FOX | #MINvsIND pic.twitter.com/I4s9BI85sN

— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) September 20, 2020

Minnesota punted the ball back to the Colts, who used the possession to add a field goal to make the score 12-3. That put the Vikings down by two scores — a hole they could never climb out of.

THIS NUMBER

3 – The number of interceptions Cousins threw on Sunday. That cannot happen if you expect to win games. Cousins has been a good quarterback during his Vikings career but three interceptions, especially two in the final minute of the first half, is not promising at all. He finished with a 15.9 passer rating. If that is a sign of things to come this season, the Vikings could be in trouble.

THEY SAID IT

“We can’t start winning until we stop losing, and right now we’re doing things to beat ourselves with the turnovers and sacks and safeties and penalties on third downs on defense.” — head coach Mike Zimmer

“This team has kind of been built on controlling the time of possession, playing great in the red zone and on third downs, and we haven’t been doing that very well.” — Zimmer

“I was going through my read and obviously felt pressure and tried to move, and then they had me in the grasp.” — quarterback Kirk Cousins on the safety

“It’s just been a bit off schedule. When the play-caller’s got to call a game kind of off schedule, it’s kind of different.” — running back Dalvin Cook on the game plan

WHAT’S NEXT

The Vikings will return to U. S. Bank Stadium for a Week 3 noon matchup against the Tennessee Titans. Tennessee (2-0) defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 33-30 on Sunday, thanks to 239 passing yards and four touchdowns from Ryan Tannehill.