There are some upset Vikings fans today. And blame for a 26-23 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs is being cast to everyone from Kirk Cousins to the defense to the offensive line to the punter to Coach Zimmer himself. And really it is a little of all  of those things.

With Chiefs star quarterback and reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes out, this was a very winnable game. It wasn't like the Vikings played a horrible game or anything. It was that they didn't make the clutch plays when they needed to and the Chiefs did. They made the huge catches and the clutch field goals.

Now let's not panic here. Pretty much everyone had marked this game as a loss when the schedule came out. I have the Vikings going 10-6 and this was one of those six losses. They are 6-3 now but with everyone else in the North losing, this would have been a nice game to have.

Up next. A BIG prime time game against the Cowboys in Dallas. But before that happens, let's look at the good, the bad and the ugly from week 9.

THE GOOD:

Kirk Cousins (the 2nd half): You're going to see a couple things make both lists and Cousins is one. His second half was pretty good. After a shaky start, Kirk seemed to settle down and make better throws including two touchdowns.

Vikings receivers not named Thielen or Diggs: They combined for 18 catches and 216 yards. Treadwell had a big game and came up with some crucial catches. Cook continue to catch the ball well out of the backfield. Even C.J. Ham came up with a couple big receptions.

Special Teams: I know, you're probably saying "hey, what about..." I know, we'll get to that. For the most part, special teams play was good. Britton Colquitt averaged 44.yards a punt with two of them inside the 20 (one inside the 5). And the special teams had that huge fumble in the beginning of the 2nd half.

Defensive Line/Pressure: Again another where you might say "hey, what about..." But outside of the 91 touchdown run, the Vikings D kept the run game in check. They had 5 sacks, 8 tackles for loss and came up with some big stops when they needed them. Zimmer dials up some really sweet blitz plays.

Vikings Fans: You could see purple everywhere. And hearing the SKOL chant rolling through Arrowhead Stadium was awesome.

THE BAD:

Kirk Cousins (the 1st half): It was like he had a case of the yips and I'm not even talking about just missing the deep passes. I'm talking about the short passes. He was waaaaaaay off.

That One Punt: What was otherwise a great punting game for Colquitt fell by the wayside with one god awful punt at exactly the wrong time.

Offensive line (Pat Elflein): The box score is kinda deceiving because it doesn't look that bad but Cousins was under pressure way to much and Pat Elflein looks completely out matched every single game. Add penalties that stopped momentum and it equals a bad week for the unit.

Coaching Decisions/Time Management: Another week on this list. Zimmer once again made some either bad decisions or bad timed decisions. Why is a team ahead in the game passing the ball like that at the end? Run the leagues' best rusher, make KC burn timeouts. And that time out on the Chiefs 3rd down at the end was badly timed. Not the first time this year he has done that. Let that play go and Moore is probably sacked and the Chiefs are out of field goal range

THE UGLY:

The Secondary: Last week the secondary made the "bad" list and Rhodes made the "ugly". At least Xavier can feel better this week knowing he's not alone this week. Sure, Hill and Watkins made some great catches but it was just bad coverage all around. There were also mismatch issues as well but that's more a coaching thing.

 

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