The Minnesota Vikings are 5-2 after a 30-20 loss to the Rams in week 8. This was their second loss in 5 days as they also lost to the Lions with a score of 31-29 in week 7. After the Lions loss it was a lot of “well it was a close game that could have gone either way and that the Vikings are still a really good team.” And basically anybody that can play the Lions that tough is almost certainly guaranteed to go to the postseason and be a threat in the conference. And while the postseason part may be true – the Vikings are currently struggling and it’s not just one issue. There’s a plethora of issues with this team and we’re going to break them all down in today’s video. This is not a reactionary response from the Rams loss as this goes back a few weeks and the moment that I think things really started to unravel – was immediately after the Vikings jumped out to a 28-0 lead against the Packers. Yes they won that game, and they won the following week against the Jets too – but each of those wins were a lot more stressful than they needed to be. And this plays a part into why the Vikings are struggling. And we’re going to break everything down in today’s video. Now let’s begin.
And we are starting today’s video by breaking down one of my biggest concerns with the Minnesota Vikings and it’s their offense. The way the Rams game started in week 8 looked like it was going to be a shootout. It was a 14-14 game with 10 minutes left in the second quarter as each team had two offensive drives and two touchdowns to that point. And the Vikings got the ball first and both of their drives were in the first quarter. They had an 8 play 70 yard drive for a touchdown and a 10 play 70 yard drive for a touchdown. It was a beautiful start to a road game on a short week in which you played close to the equivalent of a playoff game a few days prior against the Detroit Lions. But here’s where my concerns lie with the Vikings and here’s why they’re struggling. Minnesota had 3 possessions in the second quarter and the results were 2 punts and the end of the half.
The end of the half drive specifically stunk because they lost franchise Left Tackle Christian Darrisaw for the year in a really unfortunate sequence of events. Darrisaw tore his ACL and MCL and it’s not an exaggeration to say Darrisaw was playing at an all pro level. But the Vikings had 18 plays in the first quarter for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns – and for the remainder of the game – they had 32 plays for 176 yards and they put up just 6 points. Whether you are playing the Rams, the Lions, or the Panthers – you are probably not going to win that game with those numbers. The Panthers maybe. But the point is – you have to be better than the initial first 15 – 20 plays and this is something that has gone back several weeks – excluding the Lions game. I do want to credit Sam Darnold and the offense for how they played in that game in the second half because it was a lot different than how several other second halves have been played this year. Sam was 13/15 in the second half against Detroit and threw for 184 yards. Obviously that is phenomenal and one of the best halves you will see out of any quarterback all year. But to go back to the Rams game in week 8 and this also applies to the Jets game in week 5 – the offense becomes stagnant more often than not after the initial script and after the initial first few drives. The Rams game shows this best as the Vikings ran 8 plays in the 2nd quarter against the Rams for a total -4 yards. And if you want to take away the end of the first half sequence which was 2 total plays as they had the ball on their own 3 yard line to start – then the Vikings would have had 6 total plays ran for -5 yards. And this was for an entire quarter.
And one of the best drive sequences to summarize this up was when the Vikings started with the ball on their own 42 yard line. Minnesota called a concept intended to stretch the field horizontally and cause confusion for the Rams as they had both Justin Jefferson on dig routes with Addison coming in motion pre snap. They also had Aaron Jones go out of the backfield and tight end Jonny Mundt on a delayed drag route. This put tight end Josh Oliver one on one with Jared Verse and I think Verse is on his way to winning the defensive rookie of the year award and by the time Sam gets to the top of his drop back – there’s no where to go. Everybody is covered and if Sam even attempted to throw this ball – it portably would have been a strip sack – or in the best case – an incomplete pass that falls short of Johnny Mundt on the delayed drag route. I don’t want this to come across as “well Kevin should have did this” and be the king of hindsight because to be honest I think that’s obnoxious – but my point is – the opportunity was there when they started the ball with a 1st and 10 on their own 42 yard line – and let an opportunity go. Christian Darrisaw had a false start the very next play and from first and 10 on the 42 it became 2nd and 25 on the 27 quickly. Darnold threw an incomplete pass on 2nd down, and on 3rd and 25 – the Rams played very soft coverage and the Vikings picked up 9 yards to have it be 4th and 16 in which they would punt the football back to the Rams.
There’s also chinks in the armor of the Vikings defense and that’s been evident over the past few weeks. The Lions and Rams made quick work of the Vikings defense and what I think is particularly scary for the Vikings defense moving forward is – Ben Johnson and Sean McVay put on a clinic of how to attack this defense that teams couldn’t figure out in the first few weeks of the season. During the week 7 game the ball hardly touched the ground when Jared Goff was passing and he’s been one of the best quarterbacks all year. Truly. And he deserves to be in the MVP conversation. Goff finished 22/25 for 280 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Vikings and in particular – he was 4/4 between on throws between 10 and 19 yards of the line of scrimmage for 60 yards. On throws between the numbers at any depth – he was perfect. He was 13/13 on throws between the numbers for 209 yards. And I don’t know how you can look at any this in any other way than acknowledge how concerning this is moving forward. In week 8 – Matt Stafford was 8/10 on throws between 10 and 19 yards from the line of scrimmage with 2 passing touchdowns and an interception.
Both quarterbacks had a passer rating of above 115 on throws in this area of the field against the Vikings. That’s already bad – but another thing that concerns me with Minnesota is their pass rush outside of Jonathan Greenard. Greeenard has been a great addition to this team and he’s been a very fun player to watch over the first 7 games of the year. He has had at least 5 pressures in every game and you truly could not ask more from him. But outside of Greenard – it’s been hit or miss and in the first few games of the year – specifically after the Texans game – it was fine because Flores was sending pass rushers every which way and somebody was seemingly always getting home and impacting the quarterback in some way. Whether it was a hurried throw, a quarterback hit, or even forcing the quarterback to throw the ball away – it was fine because the team had allowed just 30 points in the first 3 games of the year – and they were 3-0. And they were 3-0 with two 20+ point victories including a 27 point throttling over the Houston Texans. But over the past few games there’s been more and more chinks in the armor of the Vikings defense.
If you are not a serious Vikings fan or a person that follows the NFL closely – I wouldn’t expect you to be able to name the next few leaders in pressures on this defense after Greenard. And it’s because it’s Andrew Van Ginkel – who is a great player and I’ll get to him more in a minute, journeyman defensive lineman Jihad Ward, 2nd year linebacker Ivan Pace, defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, and 4th year edge rusher Patrick Jones. I think it is worth noting Ivan Pace is a very good linebacker and is a very underrated player – but the rest of these guys are not exactly household names. And sure Harrison Phillips is a solid player and he’s a great dude off the field and does tremendous work in the community – but he’s not great and he certainly should not be expected to carry a pass rush. Andrew Van Ginkel is a really smart player and a really tactical player but I would never confuse him with an elite edge rusher. He’s a very good player – but for reference – he has 171 pass rushing snaps on the year and has 97 snaps in coverage. Meaning Brian Flores doesn’t exactly think he’s a great pass rusher either and if he did – he wouldn’t bother having him in coverage as much as he does. And for what it’s worth – Van Ginkel has two pick 6’s before the month of November. Meaning – he was never signed to be a 60 pressure a year player and a guy who could generate 12 or 13 sacks and have opposing offenses fear him. Great player, that’s not just his calling card. And you wouldn’t expect Myles Garrett or TJ Watt or Micah Parsons to have 3 or 4 interceptions either – and it’s because of how valuable they are getting after the quarterback
If you enjoyed reading this article – please check out the video below as I think you will enjoy! It’s an entire breakdown of the current state of the Minnesota Vikings!
