Atlanta Falcons Lose 4th in a Row, 20-10 to Vikings
By John Buhler
The Atlanta Falcons struggled mightily against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday for their fourth consecutive loss on the year, 20-10. Atlanta falls to 6-5.
The Atlanta Falcons have now lost four straight football games and fall to 6-5 on the year after losing at home to the 8-3 Minnesota Vikings, 20-10. While Atlanta had the number one run defense in football, it had the difficult task of containing the NFL’s leading rusher in Adrian Peterson. It didn’t help that the offense again turned the football over like clockwork.
Adrian Peterson rushed for 158 yards on 29 carries for 2 touchdowns this afternoon. Atlanta had averaged less than 80 yards on the ground per game this season. No shame there, as Adrian Peterson is the most dominant running back of the last decade.
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What killed the Atlanta Falcons today were four awful turnovers on offense. QB Matt Ryan threw two terrible interceptions and coughed up the football on a fourth down play. RB Tevin Coleman also fumbled the ball after a great gain.
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No matter how hard HC Dan Quinn preaches about ball security, their isn’t a team in the NFL that is as reluctant to take care of the football than the 2015 Atlanta Falcons. You can’t win football games losing the turnover battle 4 to 1, especially against a sure-fired playoff team in the Minnesota Vikings.
I’ll give Vikings HC Mike Zimmer a ton of credit in this game, as his defense is on the breach of becoming one of the NFL’s most deadly defensive units in football. I’m not saying they’ll be as universally recognized as The Legion of Boom in Seattle, but teams aren’t going to want to play the Vikings defense anytime soon.
At this point of the season, Atlanta needs to actively root against other piddling teams in the NFC if the Dirty Birds want to stay in the Wild Card hunt. Next week’s road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the third straight ‘must-win’ game for the Dirty Birds. A loss to the Bucs and Atlanta would fall 0-3 in the NFC South and 0-2 versus Tampa Bay, a team like Atlanta who has NFC Playoff aspirations.
The shame in it all is that the Atlanta Falcons are coming together defensively. They are good for at least a forced turnover per game and held Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater under 200 yards passing. The pass rush is still bad, but the future does seem bright for the defense.
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Unfortunately, the problems have been all on offense. Without Devonta Freeman in today’s game, the Falcons offense looked as bad as it has all season. Something has to give on the offensive side of the ball. Expect the Atlanta Falcons to address these issues in the offseason with their increasingly tepid offense.