Late Rally by Vikings Offense Not Enough in…

Zimmer said, in hindsight, he wished he would have punted on fourth-and-10 from the Lions 42, as the Vikings likely would have trailed 17-6 at the half.

Instead, Detroit added an extra three points that became big as the game wore on.

“We gave them three points there,” Zimmer said. “But we weren’t playing very well, and I was trying to get something going. The two plays before that, we had guys wide open, so I thought maybe, I had confidence in the offense, too, to hit that.”

Minnesota’s offense got going in the second half, as the Vikings scored points on four of five possessions. That added up to a field goal and three touchdowns, but the Vikings couldn’t convert on any of their three chances to get a 2-point conversion.

Those missed chances also irked Zimmer, who saw his team lose by two points while missing out on six possible points (or at least three potential points on extra points).

“Yeah, they weren’t very good, I didn’t think,” Zimmer said. “We tried to run it in, smash it down their throats from the 1-yard line. Then we tried to hand the ball off to Kene [Nwangwu]. Those weren’t the best.”