Brian Murphy: Vikings owe no apologies for ugly win
Here’s the unflinching truth about the unforgiving NFL. There are no style points in victory.
Just a very clinical notch in the daily standings of a relentless schedule of appointment viewing by a nation that cannot get enough of its weekly fix.
Oh, we can elevate wins into myth depending on timing, opponent, stakes … even the weather. Define playing careers by them. Recall heroes and villains on demand. Recite the play calls, broadcasts, recriminations and legacies that make fandom worth all the time and treasure.
As a means to an end, however, winning in the NFL is almost more of a relief than a joy. Something to be cherished because the alternative is too miserable to contemplate.
No matter how unsightly, unlikely or even undeserving, victories like the Vikings’ 28-24 sleight of hand over the ham-fisted Detroit Lions must be leveraged like precious metals.
There’s no apologizing in football. Take the W and run. London’s calling.
Autopsying Sunday’s whiplash of a game at U.S. Bank Stadium will only make a mess. There is nothing valuable to glean from being badly outplayed and humbled at home only to be handed the jail keys through the bars by Dan Campbell.
We all know Detroit’s cause of death. Campbell’s rueful decision to attempt a 54-yard field goal with 1:10 remaining. Instead of going for it on fourth-and-4 from the Minnesota 36 for the seventh time of the day, or punting to pin the Vikings deeper, Campbell rolled snake eyes when Austin Siebert pushed his kick wide right.
Campbell removed his hands from his throat long enough to plead guilty.
“I regret that decision 100 percent. I really do,” he said afterward. “I hate it, and I do feel like I cost our team. I really do, man.”
As mea culpas go, Campbell’s was textbook bleed-out-and-own-it, an art he has perfected in his second season trying to raise this franchise from the dead.
The Lions may be trending in the right direction as an untamed offensive force. But they remain the ultimate get-well opponent for the Vikings, who improved to 80-40-2 against their divisional little brothers since 1961.
Meanwhile, Vikings rookie head coach Kevin O’Connell is getting a taste of everything early in his career. A convincing and dominant debut against Green Bay followed by a humbling beatdown in Philadelphia, where O’Connell owned up to failing to get his team prepared against a superior opponent.
And now Campbell’s charitable gift. Enjoy the good fortune while it lasts, because it never does. It is a learning opportunity. Acknowledge the obvious flaws. Manage emotions. Keep moving forward.
“Adversity is only going to be one snap away in this league,” O’Connell said. “You’ve just got to meet the moment, rely on your leadership and trust the guys around you in those huddles to get it done.”
It is perennially difficult to read the Vikings. They lurch week to week on the momentum of their latest success or the drag of explaining why the same bad things seem to be happening.
Death and taxes are certain. So are double teams on game-breaking receiver Justin Jefferson. And tight throwing windows for quarterback Kirk Cousins.
The Eagles and Lions found ways to choke off Jefferson’s production, which raised the expectations roof in an impressive Week 1 victory over the Packers.
The laser-focused attention on Jefferson created redzone opportunities for the under-used Adam Thielen, whose touchdown catch kept the Vikings relevant against the Lions. And more clutch production from K.J. Osborn, whose consecutive receptions in the final minute completed the electrifying comeback.
But Jefferson and the Vikings have to be more creative in getting looks for one of the league’s elite receivers. And Cousins has to be more aggressive and less risk-averse threading the needles that elite quarterbacks regularly thread when their teams need a key conversion or drive-extending play.
Defensively under new coordinator Ed Donatell, the Vikings too often resemble Mike Zimmer’s flat-footed unit. Overwhelmed up front, soft on the back end, susceptible to big plays. And yielding 4.8 yards per carry is a blueprint for a six-win season.
Amazing how one spoon-fed win can cover a multitude of sins. There is plenty of work to be done. No time for reflection.
That actually makes it high time for this year’s unwelcomed trip across the pond to face the regressing New Orleans Saints. It is all about plug-and-play logistics when teams travel to London for the NFL’s annual corporate junket.
Stay out of the pubs, acclimate to the time change and enjoy the foreign stadium, where American ex-pats and British fantasy football gamblers mingle among the curious to create an atmosphere of buzzed neutrality.
Besides, an 8:30 a.m. Minnesota kickoff is perfect for Bloody Marys and procrastinating all day about mowing the lawn.
The Saints are a husk of their once-dominant NFC South selves, so there’s that. Holster your conspiratorial gripes about the league’s malevolence for the Vikings.
Avoiding the cauldron of the Louisiana Superdome for the bog of north London is a huge break for Minnesota, which won its previous overseas trips against Pittsburgh in 2013 and Cleveland in 2017.
The Vikings are fortunate to be 2-1. But they do not need to say sorry. Not with how the NFC is shaping up as a food fight for dominance.
If not Minnesota, then who? There is not a winning team in the conference that does not have more question marks about its success, quarterback or coaching than answers.
Strap in and tighten those knuckles. It is going to be another roller coaster ride, folks. And we are barely up the first hill.
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