Enemy Reaction 2020: Minnesota Vikings (with bonus San Francisco 49ers!)

I didn’t really think I’d be doing an Enemy Reaction this week. There wasn’t much belief I had in the Seattle Seahawks defense to get a 4th and inches stop against a Minnesota Vikings team that had rushed for a shade over 200 yards. When they got the stop, I had confidence in Russell Wilson to at least engineer something magical on the final drive. The rest is history.

It’s Enemy Reaction time. And we have some bonus content from the San Francisco 49ers after the Miami Dolphins stuffed them in their own lockers. But first, game thread comments are courtesy of Daily Norseman.

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Dalvin Cook saunters into the end zone (7-0 MIN)

Will Dissly catches his first touchdown of the season (13-7 MIN)

KJ Wright recovers Kirk Cousins fumble (13-7 MIN)

Russell Wilson finds DK Metcalf to give the Seahawks the lead (14-13 SEA)

KJ Wright picks off Kirk Cousins (14-13 SEA)

Chris Carson schools Harrison Smith for 29-yard touchdown run (21-13 SEA)

Adam Thielen scores his first of two touchdowns (21-19 SEA)

Adam Thielen gives the Vikings the lead (26-21 MIN)

Russell Wilson throws terrible interception to Eric Wilson (26-21 MIN)

Alexander Mattison stopped short on 4th and inches (26-21 MIN)

DK Metcalf pulls down 39-yard catch on 4th and 10 (26-21 MIN)

Russell Wilson connects with DK Metcalf for game-winning touchdown (27-26 SEA)

Kirk Cousins fumbles, Seahawks win (27-26 SEA FINAL)

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Post-Game: Third quarter mistakes cost the Vikings (Mike Wobschall, Vikings Territory)

[...]Because of costly mistakes in the 3rd quarter, we’re talking about an improbable road loss for the Vikings. Allowing the QB pressure that led to the sack-fumble of Cousins. The INT thrown by Cousins. Missed tackles by Anthony Harris and Harrison Smith on Carson’s TD run. These are also mistakes that led to Sunday night’s loss.

Ultimately, the time for rehashing the loss must end and it must end quickly. Watch film, meet about it and move on. This League moves too fast to sit there and mope about close losses. Up next for the Vikings is a winless Atlanta Falcons team that just fired its head coach and GM. This is a game the Vikings must win.

Their bye follows the Falcons game and then comes the toughest game remaining on their schedule – a road game against the Packers. After that, it’s a stretch of four home games in five weeks as well as a stretch of games in which the Vikings could well be favored. They will likely be underdogs at Soldier Field, but they could be favored in home games against Carolina, Dallas, Detroit and Jacksonville.

All of that, though, is putting the cart before the horse. The Vikings, with a 1-4 mark through five games, are in “every week is its own seasons” territory now. The next season must begin now, with preparations for Matt Ryan and the Falcons.

Post-Game: Mike Zimmer made a terrible decision to go for it on 4th and 1 (Adam Patrick, The Viking Age)

On a night where the Vikings did just about everything they could to pull off an impressive upset over an undefeated Seattle team, the decision by Minnesota’s head coach to not kick a field goal late in the fourth quarter might have ended his team’s hopes of returning to the playoffs this season.

Almost everyone counted the Vikings out heading into their matchup with the Seahawks on Sunday night. But Minnesota overcame the third-quarter injury to running back Dalvin Cook, they overcame a 21-point surge by Seattle to begin the second half, and the Vikings had a five-point lead until there were 15 seconds left in the contest.

However, Minnesota couldn’t overcome the terrible decision by Zimmer in the fourth quarter. It doesn’t matter if the Vikings were having success running the ball all night or their head coach thought his defense could stop the Seahawks from driving 94 yards down the field for the go-ahead touchdown.

That field goal should have been attempted by Minnesota on 4th-and-1 and there is no logical explanation for why it shouldn’t have. It was just a mind-boggling decision from Zimmer who made a number of good choices throughout the night that should have resulted in the Vikings getting a win.

Instead, Minnesota just added another member to the franchise’s extensive list of heartbreaking losses.

BONUS: Post-game email from angry Vikings fan

Stab out my goddamn eyeballs and feed them to a coastal bird. Every damn week I wake up to watch this team produce 55 minutes of good, hope-giving football only to shart into their hand and smear it on the walls for the other 5. I just want to watch a quarterback that doesn’t crumble into ash the second the slightest thing asks him to color outside the lines. His mayonnaise energy has infected the entire team, which now can’t go 60 minutes without pissing on the rug. Our defensive guru is washed, but it doesn’t even matter because they can’t field 11 nfl-quality players. The right guard looked like a penguin taking his first steps before being crunched in half by a hungry sea lion. And despite all that, they still found a way to talk me into having a fleeting moment of hope, just before tearing my heart out for the 980th time. I hate this goddamn team, I hate playing the goddamn seahawks on goddamn primetime, and I hate losing to that eye-blistering action goddamn green.

Post-Game Video: “There’s silver linings to take away from everything, but what’s the point?” (SKOLhio)

Post-Game Audio: EPIC opponent audio recap with Vikings announcers Paul Allen, Pete Bercich, and Greg Coleman (via Sports Radio KJR)

BONUS Enemy Reaction: San Francisco 49ers

Thanks but don’t try to jinx us!

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

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I think I’ve earned a break, right? I’ve done Enemy Reaction for ten years and I think this is the first time I have done it for five consecutive Seahawks wins. Seattle had won five straight in 2015 but I skipped the Baltimore Ravens one when they were starting Jimmy Clausen at quarterback, so this is a first for me too.

Let’s all rest up and gear up for a very interesting stretch of three divisional games and the unbeaten Buffalo Bills. If we’re lucky, this year’s road trip to Glendale will end up being a lot like last year’s. Thanks for reading and go ‘Hawks!