Hartman: Vikings fall back into old bad habits in another last-minute loss

Before Sunday's game at Miami, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer told the Fox announcers, "It would change the complexion of the whole season if we could win the remaining two games" and finish 8-8.

Zimmer also mentioned how difficult it has been for his team to maintain a lead.

That was a problem for Zimmer's predecessor, too. Last year's Vikings team coached by Leslie Frazier went 5-10-1, losing four times in the final minute of games.

Well, Sunday, the Vikings for the third time this year couldn't protect a fourth-quarter lead on the road, this time losing 37-35 to the Dolphins on a blocked punt for a safety with 41 seconds to play.

It also made for back-to-back weeks that a blocked kick proved costly for the Vikings, after Blair Walsh had a 26-yard field goal blocked in the 16-14 loss at Detroit.

The loss dropped the Vikings to 7-9, ensuring that they will have a losing record for the second year in a row. That's unfortunate, because they have made a lot of improvements this year, notably with Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback. The first-round draft pick, who made his 11th start of the season to break the Vikings rookie QB record he shared with Fran Tarkenton and Christian Ponder, performed at his best Sunday, completing 19 of 26 passes for 259 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and a super 114.1 quarterback rating.

But the Vikings defense was unusually porous. Ryan Tannehill completed a career-best 35 passes on 47 attempts for four touchdowns and a 118.8 rating. Sunday was the first time a Dolphins quarterback had thrown for four scores since Dan Marino did it against Denver in 1998.

Yes, Miami tried to hand the game to the visitors by letting the Vikings score 15 points in only 11 seconds thanks to a fumble on a kickoff.

But with the Vikings up 35-28 with 4 minutes, 35 seconds to play, Tannehill directed one of those 80-yard drives, going down the field on 11 plays in 3:24 to tie the score. Then a Vikings three-and-out set up the winning safety.

This was the first time this year that the Vikings defense, a team strength most of the season, has given up three fourth-quarter touchdowns.

This was a game where, for the second week in a row, the Vikings led 14-0. They scored 15 points in 11 seconds in the fourth quarter to take a seven-point lead. They scored the second most points of their season and also tied their season high for offensive touchdowns with four, and still they lost.

Second-year punter Jeff Locke had the first blocked punt of his career. After the game Cullen Loeffler, who is in 11th year with the Vikings and has earned a reputation as one of the best long snappers in the NFL, took the blame for the loss, saying his snap wasn't his best and put Locke in a difficult situation.

"It was not a good day for us, we didn't play well enough to win, we made way too many mistakes," the first-year coach said. "We had penalties in crucial situations of the game. All the things I've been trying to preach for 11 months we didn't do today. Critical areas of the field, the red zone, third downs, it was not a good day."

Zimmer did see positives in Bridgewater. "I thought the quarterback played well, he continues to play well," he said. "I think our offensive line did a nice job protecting, and the receivers made some plays.

"The one interception was bad luck, a tipped ball, and the rest of the time I thought he did a good job scrambling in the pocket. I thought he made some great throws. I thought he played with composure, I thought he continued to do all of those things."

When the Vikings got the ball back after Miami's tying touchdown, they still had 65 seconds left and three timeouts. Bridgewater said that given the situation, he believed the Vikings could have won the game, even though they started that drive from their own 13-yard line.

Still the biggest issue for the Vikings was the defense, which gave up 493 yards to a Dolphins team that had scored a total of 26 points in its previous two games, both blowout losses.

"I think it was a poor performance by us. We did things that I haven't seen in a long time."

Gophers quarterback Mitch Leidner injured his left knee in the victory over Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 6, and he ended up sitting out two weeks later against San Jose because of the knee injury and turf toe as well. Gophers coach Jerry Kill was asked if now that Leidner is healthier if the sophomore from Lake­ville South will improve his passing and his footwork.

"I think there's a lot of things that go into that and he's still a very young quarterback," Kill said. "He reminds me of Chandler Harnish, who we had at Northern [Illinois] and had a similar situation and had to battle through the knee. It certainly affected some of the things he did, and he got better as a junior and senior and played in the National Football League and recently got let go.

"Very similar to the progress there … with the protection early in the year, we struggled with the protection. We've gotten better, and having receivers make plays. You look on TV and there's people that get that ball up in the air and they have guys that go get it. I think it's a combination of many things, but we're going to have to do a good job in the bowl game. We spent a lot of time in it here in our camp right now."

As for the health of David Cobb, who played in the season finale at Wisconsin despite a hamstring injury, Kill said the standout running back is ready to play in the Citrus Bowl. "David is in great shape," Kill said. "He looks good. He's practiced very well. I think he is definitely ready for the bowl game. A little bit of rest before we go is going to help all of them."

"We're healthy except for [right tackle] Ben Lauer, and right now I don't think Ben will be able to play," he said. "He had gotten sick, really sick, and trying to recover from that. he'll make the trip, but a huge question mark. That adds depth to us. He has just had one of those years where he had a high ankle sprain, battles back from it, redoes it, then comes out of that and has been sick. He has had one of those years, and he'll bounce back and be a great player here."