Mike Zimmer was clearly irked when speaking with reporters immediately after today's 37-35 loss to the Dolphins, and understandably so. His Vikings blew another double-digit lead, allowed nearly 500 yards of total offense and were flagged a bunch of times in a frustrating loss.
"I think it was a poor performance by us," the first-year head coach said. "We did things that I haven't seen in a long time."
After a solid first half, Zimmer's defense got ripped apart by the Dolphins, who scored touchdowns on all four of their second-half drives. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw for 396 passing yards, the most the Vikings have allowed this season, and four touchdowns. Led by running back Lamar Miller, the Dolphins became the latest team to eclipse 100 rushing yards against the Vikings.
"We couldn't cover anybody," Zimmer said. "We didn't rush and we didn't cover. So that's a pretty hard combination."
The Vikings also hurt themselves with some untimely penalties, including a couple after the whistle. Both defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd and outside linebacker Gerald Hodges were flagged for personal fouls after plays had ended.
"Ridiculous. Ridiculous," Zimmer said. "That's how you get beat, doing stuff like that."
All those miscues helped the Dolphins erase an early 14-0 deficit and then regain the lead after the Vikings got back ahead, 35-28, with only a few minutes left in the game. No wonder Zimmer was salty after the game, and he said the players got it much worse than we did.
"We made too many mistakes. We had penalties in crucial situations of the game," Zimmer said. "All the things I've been trying to preach for 11 months, we didn't do today — critical errors in the field, red zone, third downs. It just wasn't a good day."
