Coming out of a bye, the Vikings had a chance to make a statement to the country in their first primetime game of the season on Sunday night. The got a break when they found out shortly before the game that the Cowboys were holding out Dak Prescott and starting Cooper Rush John Henson Jersey in his place. All they had to do was take care of busine s against a backup QB making his first NFL start.Instead, they embarra sed themselves in . The Vikings' offense was completely and utterly incompetent after the game's opening po se sion, and blame for that falls equally on the shoulders of Kirk Cousins, Klint Kubiak, and members of the offensive line not named Brian O'Neill. With uninspiring playcalling and constant pre sure on Cousins leading to checkdown after checkdown, it looked like the Vikings were playing scared on offense. It was unwatchable.To make matters worse, Mike Zimmer's game management was shockingly bad, specifically in the form of at the end of both halves. Zimmer's vaunted defense also gave up over 400 yards of offense to Rush and company and couldn't come up with a stop on the decisive final drive. It was just bad all around, and the Vikings now have a 3-4 record, a schedule that doesn't get any easier, and a coach on the hottest of hot seats.Oh, and they lost one of their best players, defensive end Danielle Hunter, , while still being without Patrick Peterson and Michael Pierce for the time being. In other words, things aren't going well in Viking-land.Let's take a look at this week' Milwaukee Bucks Jersey s national power rankings to see how far the Vikings fall and what the analysts have to say about that Sunday night debacle.Mitch Goldich, : No. 17 (Down 2 spots)With the Vikings, you cant get bogged down by the week-to-week results. Theyre just going to swing between good games and bad, somehow finding their way back to No. 17. Of course they lost to Cooper Rush on a Sunday night. Now watch them somehow take two out of three against the Ravens, Chargers and Packers. (O.K. maybe one out of three.)Dan Hanzus, : No. 19 (Down 4 spots)The prime-time stage was set up for the Vikings on Sunday night. Dak Prescott was inactive, and when Kirk Cousins led Minnesota on an immediate touchdown drive, it looked like the start of a four-hour Halloween party at U.S. Bank Stadium. But the Dallas defense took control after that, and the Vikings' defense wilted against Cooper Rush in the final minutes. I'll repeat: Mike Zimmer's team had a chance to make a statement and instead came off as an also-ran exposed.Scroll to Continue Staff: No. 23 (Down 1 spot)This was the one. This was the game the Minnesota Vikings had to have. Beat a Dallas Cowboys team that was short quarterback Dak Prescott, and the Vikings would be 4-3 and in the thick of the NFC wild-card picture. Lose, and it's off to the also-ran pile again. Giving up 325 pa sing yards to a 27-year-old backup making his first career start is bad enough. But Cooper Rush just outplayed Kirk Cousins, and it wasn't especially close. Minnesota's veteran quarterback completed just 23 of 35 pa ses for 184 yards and a single first-quarter touchdown pa s. After the Cowboys came back to score Mirza Teletovic Jersey the game-winning touchdown with le s than a minute left, a visibly frustrated Adam Thielen bemoaned Minnesota's inability to close games out. "Every game we just hang around, hang around, hang around, let the team hang around, instead of just putting our foot on the gas and going," Thielen told reporters. It was the fourth time this season the Vikings lost a one-score game. And with a brutal stretch of schedule underway that features trips to Baltimore and Los Angeles to face the Chargers and a visit from the Packers, it was a defeat that may well signify the beginning of the end for the 2021 VikingsAnd quite po sibly head coach Mike Zimmer as well.Pete Prisco, : No. 16 (Down 2 spots)The offense wasn't good against the Cowboys. They just seemed too predictable. That has to change.Frank Schwab, : No. 19 (Down 1 spot)Mike Zimmer Khris Middleton Jersey admitted to the mistake of calling consecutive timeouts, which cost the Vikings a 5-yard penalty and helped Dallas convert a third-and-11 on the next play. A play after that, the Cowboys scored the game-winning touchdown. That will be yet another piece of evidence for frustrated Vikings fans who want a coaching change.Vinnie Iyer, : No. 19 (Down 3 spots)The Vikings lost yet another close one-po se sion game late in the fourth quarter by failing to take advantage of not facing Prescott at home on Sunday night. They have a lot of trouble meshing their offense and defense for optimum effect under Mike Zimmer. They would be a huge disappointment as a non-playoff team.Nate Davis, : No. 17 (Down 2 spots)They keep getting close ... but aren't accruing sufficient cigars, even with all four lo ses by seven or fewer points. Matters won't get easier with DE Danielle Hunter down for the count with a torn pectoral muscle.Mike Florio, : No. 17 (Down 3 spots)They dont do low expectations very well.Danny Kelly, : No. 17 (Down 3 spots) Staff: No. 19 (Down 2 spots)Biggest Achilles' heel: Offense A seven-game sample size reveals the Vikings' offense Michael Beasley Jersey is not cut out for the modern NFL. Minnesota has routinely come out of the gates swinging and scoring on its first po se sion, but the offense has disappeared after that to the tune of no second-half touchdowns in five of seven games. In a lo s to Dallas, the game plan turned quarterback Kirk Cousins into a predictable checkdown machine whose average depth of target was 4.5 yards and totaled a measly 184 yards pa sing. This unit went from explosive to dull and conservative in a year's time and has evolved into Minnesota's chief downfall this season.