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The Vikings were without All-Pro linebacker Eric Kendricks (calf) for the fourth straight game. Rookie linebacker Troy Dye (concussion/hamstring) and Todd Davis (ribs) also were sidelined, leaving Minnesota with next-to-no depth at the position. Hardy Nickerson and Blake Lynch – who led the team with 10 tackles – played alongside Eric Wilson in the team s base defense.
Minnesota also was without defensive end Jalyn Holmes and continues to be thin at cornerback.
But while the Vikings certainly were playing with a skeleton crew defensively, Zimmer noted that certain errors can t be attributed simply to inexperience. I don t think being young has anything to do with tackle. They manhandled us up front pretty well with the front guys and linebackers, but we didn t tackle, he said. When we had chances, we didn t cover very well today. Defensive backs came off the receivers. It was disappointing.
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1. Dear NFL: Keep saying no to an 18-game season
Those of us against the NFL adopting an 18-game season hereby submit the Vikings 52-33 Christmas Day debacle vs. the Saints as another example of how utterly decimated a roster can look by late December. Imagine watching this Vikings defense stagger through two extra games. Or how about the 49ers? Or the flat-out lousy teams like the Jets and Jaguars?
On the flip side, why risk ruining the playoffs by making great teams risk further injuries playing two more games? On Friday, undrafted rookie Blake Lynch became the seventh linebacker to start for a Vikings defense playing backups among backups to backups. Before that, he had played one defensive snap all season. It was little surprise the Saints first 19 plays produced 14 first downs, two TDs, 216 yards and no third downs. Eliminating two preseason games doesn t offset an 18-game season. Starters barely play in the preseason.
By GUERRY SMITH - Dec. 25, 2020 10:18 PM EST New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara (41) scores his sixth touchdown of the game, tying the NFL record for most rushing touchdowns in a game, in the second half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings in New Orleans, Friday, Dec. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) The Minnesota Vikings’ depleted defense concluded its first series on the field by haplessly trying to chase down Alvin Kamara as the Saints running back raced away for a 40-yard touchdown.
That was just the beginning of a historically bad day for a unit that has struggled much of this season.
Dec 25, 2020
This was not a particularly merry Christmas for the Vikings. In front of a national TV audience, their injury-ravaged defense gave up historic numbers to Alvin Kamara and the Saints, with the end result being a 52-33 loss that dropped the Vikings to 6-9 and eliminated them from playoff contention.
Kamara ran for six touchdowns on a Vikings front seven missing Eric Kendricks and several others, becoming the second player to ever accomplish that feat in an NFL game (the other guy did it literally 91 years ago). He finished with 172 yards from scrimmage, breaking what seemed like an endless number of tackles in an embarrassing outing for Minnesota s defense.