Well, that was disappointing. The Vikings continue to lose at home in what is got to be the worst stretch for them at US Bank Stadium. To make matters worse they brought the Cowboys crew to announce the game apparently. Listening to the announcers fawning over the cowboys all game we might as well have been playing in Dallas. Minnesota goes to 4-6 and our stock market report is gonna have a lot of junk in it today!

Blue Chip Stocks

Eric Wilson: Eric Wilson blocked an extra point, the best special teams play we have seen since the bye week. For being one of the lone bright spots for special teams Wilson remains a blue chip stock. In all honesty the defense was just not good this game but we had two bright spots.

Eric Kendricks: Kendrick's interception was a thing of beauty. He managed to get the Cowboys off the field, a rare feat for our defense.

Adam Thielen: Thielen caught two TDs and made some highlight reel worthy catches all game, the brightest spot for the Minnesota offense, Thielen demonstrated why he is the top red zone target on the Vikings.

Dalvin Cook: Cook was solid today scoring a TD and getting some good runs, his only bad play was a fumble after getting blown up by the Cowboys. There were a few tackles for loss but that fell more on the Oline than on Cook. Cook is still the focal point of this offense and still managed over 100 yds with almost no help from his line.

Solid Investments:

Justin Jefferson: Jefferson has had a run as a blue chip stock because he has been on fire. This was another strong game from Jefferson with a beautiful 39 yd TD over the top of the Cowboys defense to cap it. Unfortunately Jefferson also had a major drop in the last 2 minutes. With a chance to extend the drive he turned up field before securing the catch on what was a beautiful throw from Cousins. It was a rookie mistake and one that i am sure he will learn from but it hurt the Vikings today.

Kirk Cousins: Kirk had a great day all in all. His one turn over was also a blown roughing the passer call and hard to blame him when you are getting your head blown up. Kirk helped guide the offense and get things on track in the 2nd half. He ran for a 1st down to extend the drive on the second Thielen TD and did a fairly good job with ball security. People will point to another blown opportunity for a game winning drive under 2 minutes, but this time around it did not fall on Kirk, he gave his guys a chance to make plays and they couldn't this time. There have been other times where Kirk shoulders all of the blame but this one wasn't one of those.

Andrew DePaola: DePaola got called up to replace Cutting and did an excellent job not botching the snap. Given the Vikings special team woes he was a bright spot.

Dan Bailey/ Britton Colquitt: Yep, these guys are getting some love, Bailey made all of his kicks and did not kick a ball to a pro bowl level kick returner, excellent. Colquitt made some good punts and had a beautiful pass to Kris Boyd that the zebras called back these guys were the only special teams guys not in the dog house.

Junk Bonds:

Harrison Smith: Alright Smith has been closer to his usual self these last few games but today was bad. A high hit on a receiver and some blown coverages just hurt us a lot today. With a young group of CBs going throw growing pains we needed more from our safeties.

Actually most of the defense: The defense was just bad this game. It looks like they decided to go back to the beginning of the season and forget how to cover, and tackle, and break up passes. While Kendricks and Wilson got mentioned above for standing out this was not a great performance.

Special Teams: What is happening, special teams has just been a dumpster fire the last few games, bad penalties, bobbled punts and big returns have really hurt the Vikings. Zimmer usually only fires offensive coordinators mid season but i think its time for Maalouf to go.

Offensive Line: With Cleveland out the oline just looked bad today and drew a ton of penalties. Reiff held up fairly well but everywhere else the line just got demolished. Brett Jones played at around a Pat Elflein level which is at least better than Samia but man this was just a rough performance.

The Cartoon Pictures instead of Player Pictures: Man I hate that they are doing stylized drawings of players instead of their actual headshots. The artist is very talented but come on how about actual photos. Thanks.

Penny Stocks:

Nobody today, the rookies just looked lost out their, it was nice that Dantzler was able to play but i just couldn't find anyone out side of Jefferson that I thought stood out.

Buy/Sell

Buy: The Vikings can still make the playoffs. Its going to be tough but Minnesota still has a shot at the 7th seed, and after I thought the Vikes were done after Atlanta I just can't count them out yet. The offense as a whole continues to look better but even if we sneak in I don't see a deep run in the cards.

Sell: The Vikings will be out of range for a top QB. This could go either way, I don't think the Vikes can get the 1 or 2 pick, but if they end up around 11 or 12 they should have a shot to move up and potentially grab one of the top 3 guys. Trey Lance is the most likely guy to drop in my opinion but you never know. At this point I think all options should be on the table.

Buy: Kirk is not the guy for a 2 minute end of game drive. Yeah its hard to trust Cousins with the game on the line in the last 2 minutes. It is a little unfair but until he does it a few times it will come up. Part of this is the contract, if we had him for say 18-20 million a year instead of that 28-30 million it would be a bit better. But there is no way we would have him for less and good for Kirk for getting paid. I can't fault him for that.

Sell: Every 4th quarter loss is entirely on Kirk. This happens every close game and its time to step back. There are games where its on Kirk alone and he should get roasted for it. This game however, Kirk was not the issue at all. The Vikings defense gave up a 4th and 6th and then left a guy completely uncovered in the end zone. Then our hot young rookie receiver makes a mistake and Kirk can't control that, he put the ball perfectly on Jefferson and he doesn't play defense. This time we need to hit the other parts for this loss, but never fear we can still pin the Seahawks loss on him.

Sell: A losing record at home. That's where we are headed, of our 4 wins this season only one was at home. And that was against Detroit. We are 1-4 at home and need to win all of our next home games to have a .500 record at home. 2020 is a strange year already but come on we need to do better in Minnesota.

This game sucked. There were some good aspects but overall it felt more like Atlanta than Tennessee, the score was close but the Vikings just couldn't get out of their own way on defense. We are 11 weeks in and who are the Vikings? I asked this last week and still I can't figure this team out. We play Seattle and Tennessee super close and upset Green Bay but get manhandled by the Falcons and then can't beat the only NFC East team on our schedule. I am curious to see what happens when the Panthers and Jags come to town.