NFL: Angry Vikings vow to take out frustrations on Detroit

By Chris Tomasson
St. Paul Pioneer Press
MINNEAPOLIS - Everson Griffen is mad, and he’s planning to take it out on Detroit.
The defensive end was infuriated with how his Vikings played in a 20-3 loss in Monday night’s opener at San Francisco. They were especially bad on defense, giving up 395 yards, including 230 on the ground.
Next up for Minnesota is Sunday’s home opener against the Lions at TCF Bank Stadium. Griffen vowed Wednesday there won’t be a repeat performance.
“I feel that we’re going to beat them because we’re going to be ready,” Griffen said. “And we took it personal. This is a personal game coming up. We’re going out there to make a statement ... We’re going to go out there and beat Detroit. So, I’m very angry right now, as you can see, because we prepared way too hard (for the 49ers game), and we’re going to go out there and get them.”
Griffen wasn’t the only player predicting the Vikings would take their frustrations out on the Lions.
“I’m more than confident going into this next home game against Detroit and getting a win,” said tackle Matt Kalil.
The Vikings were confident entering Monday’s season opener but were embarrassed on national television.
On offense, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater misfired, running back Adrian Peterson rushed for a meager 31 yards on 10 carries and the offensive line gave up five sacks. On defense, the Vikings missed numerous tackles, many on running back Carlos Hyde, who rushed for 168 yards.
“It wasn’t at all like us,” said cornerback Captain Munnerlyn. “I don’t know what it was, but that team that played Monday night, it wasn’t us.”
Nevertheless, the standings show the Vikings are 0-1. They were the NFL’s only team that didn’t score a touchdown in the first week of the regular season.
Monday’s debacle came 50 days after the team began training camp. The Vikings had played five preseason games, but they didn’t look ready.
“We had a lot of obstacles, and I’m not sitting here making excuses,” Griffen said.
So what were those obstacles?
“I feel like we were tired a little bit,” he said. “I don’t know. … We played at 9:30 our time. We’re not making excuses. They were a better team than us that night. We did play at a bad time, but our biggest thing is now we’ve just got to go out there and grind.”
The late start meant the Vikings didn’t get back to Minnesota until 6 a.m. Tuesday. Linebacker Chad Greenway needed two words to sum up the flight home.
“Somber. Miserable,” he said.
At least the short week gives the Vikings less time to stew.
“Obviously, there’s a ton of negativity around the way we played in the last week, and it begins a short week,” Greenway said. “There’s nothing better than making a bad game go away than playing better, so we’re hoping to make that happen.”
Pro Football Focus counted 13 missed tackles for the Vikings, three by Griffen, one by Greenway.
“We should all be uncomfortable with the way we played,” Greenway said. “We want to come in and get better, myself included. There are so many plays I look at and just say, ‘What the heck are you doing? I can’t play like that.’ ”
Greenway agreed with coach Mike Zimmer, who says there must be multiple players on defense around the ball, and not just one. With that in mind, it might have been a lot worse for the Vikings on Monday if not for linebacker Anthony Barr.
Barr was perhaps the one bright spot on defense with 12 tackles, 10 of them solo. On offense, it was hard to find any bright spots.
Peterson, the Vikings’ all-time leading rusher, looked nothing like a star in his first game back after missing the final 15 games last season. Bridgewater didn’t look like the promising rookie he was last season, or the quarterback who had such a good preseason.
“I was definitely too excited,” said Bridgewater, whose passer rating of 79.0 was nowhere near his preseason figure of 111.3. “It was the first game of the season, and you want to get out there and show all of your hard work from training camp, (spring drills) and the preseason. … I watch the tape, learn from it and try not to make the same mistakes twice.
“This week we’re going to fly around practice, and Sunday we’re going to go out there and just play at a higher level.”
The Pioneer Press is a media partner with the Forum News Service