Souhan: Defense turns soft and Zimmer turns red

MIAMI – If you were playing Lifelong Vikings Fan Bingo on Sunday, you were able to cross off "punt blocked out of end zone to lose game" and "onside kick from 20-yard line,'' winning you an autographed copy of Gary Anderson's just-in-time-for-the-holidays coffee-table book titled "I Only Missed Once.''

Say this for the Vikings: They have evolved. A few weeks ago they were hoping their defense could give their rookie quarterback a chance to win. Sunday, they asked Bridgewater to overcome the team's most disappointing defensive performance of the season.

A week after frustrating the Lions, the Vikings defense made the Dolphins look like they were still employing players named Griese and Csonka.

The Vikings defense allowed touchdowns on all four of the Dolphins' second-half drives (not counting a fumbled kickoff and a kneel-down) while blowing a 14-0 lead.

The defense allowed four touchdown drives of 80 yards or longer.

Sharrif Floyd and Gerald Hodges combined for three personal foul penalties.

The secondary left so many backs and tight ends wide open that Ryan Tannehill passed for 396 yards.

The Vikings' front allowed Lamar Miller and the other Dolphins backs to rush 23 times for 113 yards and a touchdown.

Cornerback Xavier Rhodes, for the second week in a row asked to match up all over the field with a star wideout, gave up two touchdown catches and committed a key pass-interference penalty against Mike Wallace.

The Vikings made so many mistakes, missed so many tackles, it was enough to make you wonder whether some of their young defenders found their way to South Beach on Saturday night — and whether some of them should have stayed there on Sunday.

"Poor performance by us,'' Zimmer said. "I saw us do things we haven't done in a long time.''

Zimmer gets gloriously furious when his team, and in particular his defense, fails to display a grasp of fundamentals.

Some days, he seems to change colors right in front of you, from pale white to crimson. Sunday, Zimmer looked so angry you wondered if he was going to change states, from solid to liquid to steam.

"We were undisciplined,'' he said, apparently auditioning for an endorsement deal with Maalox. "We didn't even line up half — or some — of the time.''

Zimmer has earned praise often this season. Sunday, he was the only logical person to blame.

Norv Turner's offense provided plenty of points. The special teams gaffe that produced the game-losing points began with longtime long snapper Cullen Loeffler, who has been dependable for a decade.

You don't blame the long snapper for a rare mistake when the defense made so many of them.

The defense looks undisciplined? That falls to Zimmer. The defense misses tackles? That falls to Zimmer. The defense can't cover tight ends and running backs? Well, that might be more a result of personnel than coaching chops, but guess what? It still falls to Zimmer.

Last week, someone asked Zimmer if he took pride in elevating another defense into the NFL's top 10 in yards allowed. He noted that the season wasn't over yet. Sunday proved that his defense will need plenty of work and a few upgrades to be the kind of every-game force he envisions.

After a terse-but-polite news conference, someone asked Zimmer if he had offered a similar message to his players. "It was stronger,'' he said.

Patriots resident genius Bill Belichick has done a disservice to his coaching brethren. He has won with so many different players of varying abilities in so many different game plans against so many different opponents that he has robbed other coaches of the ability to whine about injuries or circumstances.

Zimmer doesn't whine. He boils.

Especially when he has no one else to blame.

His defense lost its composure on Sunday, while losing a game, causing Zimmer to stand on the podium afterward, grinding his molars until they were flat.

It's actually fun to watch, if you're not one of his players.

Jim Souhan's podcasts can be found at SouhanUnfiltered.com. • jsouhan@startribune.com