Most of you guys are overthinking this. Winning it all is hard even when you have a historic year and everything otherwise seems to be working. Lamar the MVP and good ol' #12 can sling that rock all the way up and down the seams on a rope and all over the field. They're both watching the SB from home just like Drew, and neither one of them put up 46 points when they had their turn against SF. Hell, good ol' #12 didn't reach 30 points in two meetings combined.
Guys, we just didn't play well enough to win at the wrong time. You're driving yourselves and everyone else crazy. Dear God, I hope nobody in Drew's circle reads this (currently) embarrassing board. Here is what it took for our 13-3 team to lose in overtime:
- A perfect storm scenario where for only the third time in NFL history, a 13-3 team played during wild card weekend. Meanwhile, Minnesota had the benefit of resting their starters during week 17 while we fought for a bye. If you think that the deflation of even having to play a WC game at all combined with playing a rested team did not have an impact on the game, you probably also think that Drew's arm isn't strong enough to beat elite NFL defenses. The line play for the first three quarters of that game supported the scenario described above.
- A brilliant strategy by MIN to move their defense ends inside against the softer part of our offensive line featuring an OG in Peat who was playing in just his second game after returning from an extended injury absence. It took us a while to adjust.
- The first two-turnover game by our team the entire season.
- The first lost fumble by Drew the entire season, on a flukey hit from behind after a WR ran the wrong route and Drew had to pull the ball down instead of getting it out on schedule.
- A rare missed FG by Lutz at the end of the first half.
- Rare clock mis-management at the end of our last drive in regulation, ultimately creating a pre-snap penalty costing us more time. A situation that should have given us anywhere from 3-5 shots at the endzone to win in regulation instead saw us end the game with a timeout in our pocket.
- A surprisingly solid game from Kirk Cousins where he didn't try to do too much and let Dalvin Cook (with fresh legs from his own extended absence) do the heavy lifting.
- A missed OPI by Rudolph on the winning TD grab. I'm not even close to suggesting that the officials cost the Saints the game - the Saints lost the game for themselves - but it was a missed call in a big moment and factored in with all the mistakes that the Saints made.
It's pretty clear that Drew is still one of the best QB's in the game and far from the weak link on our team. There are many areas we can get better and thankfully the draft is set up for us to grab a quality WR2 this time. Winning in the playoffs will still come down to playing better than the opponent, overall talent, a little luck, and matchups. #9 is still more than good enough to get the job done.