The Vikings played their Week One game in prime time. After a 20-3 loss, their always-candid head coach stated the obvious.
“Maybe we’re just not ready for prime time yet,” Mike Zimmer told reporters after the game, via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Or maybe the Vikings just weren’t ready for Week One. Especially after hearing for a long time how good they’re supposed to be in Zimmer’s second season.
“They’ve basically been talking about us for 11 months, and maybe we thought we were a little bit better than what we were,’’ Zimmer said.
As Tomasson notes, it hasn’t been 11 months. But the hype kicked in the moment Adrian Peterson and the Vikings renewed their vows in June.
So what happened Monday night?
“San Francisco was much more physical,’’ Zimmer said. “They played faster, they executed better, and like I told the team afterwards that the two years here and 17 ballgames I’ve been here, that did not look like the football team that I know.’’
Last year, the Vikings launched the season with a decisive 34-6 win on the road at St. Louis. This year, facing a 49ers team that largely was gutted in the offseason, it was a lackadaisical thumping for all the world to see. Or at least for all who managed to stay awake to see it.
In Week Two, the stakes raise considerably for the Vikings, as they entertain the Lions in Minnesota. The loser falls to 0-2 and 0-1 in the division.
So regardless of whether the Vikings are ready for prime time, they need to be ready in five days for noon cornfields time.