It’s easy to assign blame in the Washington Commanders week 14 loss to the Minnesota Vikings at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Both the offense and defense were culpable.
Facing a Vikings team that was shut out last week by Seattle 26-0, Washington (3-10)Â made Vikings Quarterback JJ McCarthy, back in the line up after a lengthy absence, look like the first round draft pick he was as the Vikings cruised to an easy 31-0Â win.
Vikings quarterback JJ McCarty, who has struggled this season, was 16 of 23 for 163 yards and three touchdowns, by far the best performance of his young career. McCarty took the Vikings offense 61 yards downfield on the game’s first drive which culminated with an 18 yard touchdown pass to Josh Oliver to give Minnesota a 7-0 lead.
The Commanders came right back. Quarterback Jayden Daniels, back in the lineup for the first time in four weeks, brought the commanders to the Vikings one yard line on a 15 play drive, on 4th ang goal, wasn’t able to find wide receiver Deebo Samuel in the end zone and Washington lost the ball on downs.
The Vikings made Washington pay, driving 98 yards on 19 plays with Jordan Mason going the final 8 yards to make the score 14-0.
The third quarter saw the floodgates finally break. Daniels was able to move the offense to the Vikings but on 4th down and 3 from Minnesota’s 19 yard line, Daniels threw an interception to Andrew Van Ginkel. Daniels was blocked to the turf, landing awkwardly on his recently injured left elbow. He left the game and was replaced by Marcus Mariota.
After giving up a field goal to make the score 17-0, Mariota effectively ended the game with an interception to Harrison Smith. McCarty would connect with Oliver for the second time in the end zone to give the Vikings a 24-0 lead.
Post game notes:
Tight end Zach Ertz was carted off the field after injuring his leg late in the third quarter…. Wide receiver Noah Brown returned to the lineup for the first time since week 2. He caught one pass for 19 yards… Washington was outgained 313-206 in total yards….
Bob Matthews is a 33 year veteran broadcast journalist, spending the last 29 years of his career in Virginia. Bob has covered both news and sports stories and for the last three seasons, the Washington Commanders. He looks forward to continuing to provide coverage to Sportsjourney.com both on the website and through his podcast, The Bob Matthews Show.
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