When A Good Loss Feels Bad

The Vikings played an NFL favorite to the wire, and proved nothing in the process.

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

Had Vikings fans been told before the season that their Week 5 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs would be a one-score affair with the chance for the Vikings to tie it up in the final drive, the excitement would have been palpable. After all, the Chiefs are the best team in the NFL and the Vikings excel in one-score situations.

The ability to consistently find themselves within arms reach of the best the NFL has to offer hasn’t been an issue for the team. In fact, it’s often more frustrating that the same team will allow the NFL’s worst to keep up with them and threaten to derail a team that should have playoff aspirations.

Despite that, a one-win team felt more lost and confused than nearly triumphant in their close defeat to Kansas City. It didn’t feel like a “good loss” that tells us this team is closer to good than bad despite their record. It felt like a Vikings team that had lost the magic of 2022 and instead was one confronting the mundane reality of its own history.

The Vikings entered the game seventh in the NFL in net EPA per play on non-turnover plays. This kind of metric is supposed to tell us that, despite their record, they can be a high-level team going forward. Instead, it’s a reminder that the team can’t get out of its own way, regardless of opponent.

The Vikings really drove that last point home by bookending the game with a fumble on their opening play from scrimmage and a catastrophic final drive.

Last year, Kirk Cousins began to right the ship on a long-running career narrative. He led the league in fourth-quarter comebacks and in game-winning drives after a lifetime of disappointment when faced with potentially heroic moments.

Two of the most improbable comebacks in NFL history happened to be authored by the Vikings – one against Super Bowl contenders the Buffalo Bills and another against one of the most hapless teams in the league in the Indianapolis Colts. That fact is a reminder that, no matter how exciting those comeback moments can be, the Vikings had trouble truly establishing themselves as worthy of respect.

But one thing that they had right, perhaps more than any other team, was their ability to manage game situation. It was a crucial element that had been lacking throughout the franchise’s history, from the Denny Green-era offensive powerhouses to the Zimmer-led defensive stalwarts. Even the Bud Grant Vikings, dominant on both sides of the ball, could wither away late in close games.

Not so last year.

In the fourth quarter against the Chiefs, the Vikings forced Patrick Mahomes’ offense to punt twice, surrendering the ball to a Vikings offense that led the league in explosive plays. On their first drive of the final frame, the Vikings pulled within a score after a touchdown on a well-designed screen to Alexander Mattison, reminiscent of the opening score last year against the New Orleans Saints.

They failed. A drop on another screen to Mattison played a role, but the primary issue was that they ran out of time. And it was entirely avoidable.

Late-Game Stumbles Fly in the Face of What We Know