Vikings falter after good run

ATLANTA - The Vikings needed just 1 more yard Sunday to really make things interesting. Technically, it was more like 20 inches.

And perhaps, if you stare at replays long enough, you will contend they gained those inches but didn't get credit.

That's a fair assessment, but still no comfort.

Any way you slice it, the Vikings suffered their ninth loss of the season -- this one 24-14 to the Falcons at the Georgia Dome -- thanks in a part to a failed final drive that featured a head-spinning combination of chaos and struggle.

Where should we start? With the Vikings' final offensive snap and a vote of confidence from coach Leslie Frazier?

The Vikings trailed by 10 and faced fourth-and-goal from inside the 1 with less than 5 minutes to play. A chip-shot field goal would have cut the deficit to 24-17. But Frazier felt his offense had one foot wedged in the door and was more than capable of barging through for a pivotal touchdown.

So offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave was given the green light. And Musgrave responded by calling a basic power running play for Toby Gerhart. And Gerhart did as he was told and took a handoff from Christian Ponder at the 6.

One problem: Atlanta linebacker Sean Weatherspoon stormed into the backfield unaccounted for.

Gerhart knew immediately he was doomed, dropped for a 2-yard loss as right guard Joe Berger never had a chance to trap Weatherspoon as assigned.

"When someone's untouched off the edge, screaming upfield on a play like that and you're 7 yards deep, you get hit 3 or 4 yards deep in the backfield," Gerhart said.

Added Weatherspoon: "We were well prepared for that particular play. It was a play we'd seen repeatedly on game tape and on the field."

It was a fitting final sequence to another loss, a microcosm of a season with so many frustrating failures.

The Vikings needed less than a yard and couldn't get it.

"I decided we were going to go for it thinking that if we get this score, next time we get the ball back we're going to be going to win the game," Frazier said. "Instead it went the other way. That's purely on me. Just a bad mistake on my part putting us in that position."

Worse, Gerhart's final run and the Vikings' final whimper came after Percy Harvin had set them up with first-and-goal from the 3 with a dazzling 104-yard kickoff return.

And the bungled fourth-down play came after a third-down run on which Harvin seemed to cross the goal line with a late lunge.

Only the officials didn't see it. And the Vikings didn't challenge.

"From my vantage point, I couldn't see it well enough to say whether he was in or out," Frazier said. "Nothing was coming from upstairs to say that it was close enough to challenge."

Still, to analyze Sunday's loss with only a narrow focus on the final drive would be misguided. For the third consecutive week, the Vikings found themselves in a 17-point halftime hole, their offense proving totally listless early and digging way too big of a hole.

With Adrian Peterson out because of a high ankle sprain and not even traveling to Atlanta, the Vikings netted only 33 yards on their first four possessions. Their first trip into Falcons territory didn't come until 8 seconds remained in the first half.

Making matters worse, two more Vikings secondary starters pulled up lame -- cornerback Asher Allen suffered a shoulder injury and safety Tyrell Johnson pulled a hamstring. That left the Vikings with a defensive backfield of Cedric Griffin, Benny Sapp, Marcus Sherels, Jamarca Sanford and Mistral Raymond. Which left Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan playing the role of greedy buzzard, free to pick away at the carcass as much as he pleased.

An 18-yard bullet to Tony Gonzalez here, a 6-yard scoring strike to Roddy White there. Thirty-four pass attempts later, Ryan had connected with seven receivers for 262 yards and three touchdowns.

His 3-yard scoring pass to Michael Palmer with 6:40 left proved huge, capping a methodical nine-play, 73-yard march that gave Atlanta a 10-point cushion.

"I'll watch this film and I'll put a clock on it," Vikings defensive end Jared Allen said. "And I don't know that there were more than two or three pass plays where he had the ball in his hands for more than 2 seconds."

Winning teams find that kind of rhythm. Losing squads struggle to grind out those oh-so-critical final inches.

Dan Wiederer • dan.wiederer@startribune.com