2 hours ago
In the middle of his Monday news conference, in the midst of answering a specific question about the special teams gaffe that proved to be the last thing the Vikings couldn’t overcome in Sunday’s 19-17 loss to the Bears, head coach Kevin O’Connell got to the heart of what is wrong with this year’s 4-6 squad.
“I think there’s an element to it, too, where guys want to win so bad, they want to win that down so bad. ... They think in their minds in the moment is the best thing for the play is by going to make the play myself,” O’Connell said. “I think there’s some of that going on throughout our team. It’s a better problem to have than, than trying to find the fight and trying to find the guys that will play physical and hard for 60 minutes. We have that box checked in my opinion right now.”
That boils down to this: The Vikings are playing hard but not smart. And more to the point, players are pressing and trying to do to much instead of trusting their assignments.
It feels like a fair assessment, one that matches my eye test.
If we can agree that O’Connell has diagnosed a key part of the team’s problem this year, let’s talk at the start of today’s 10 things to know about why it’s happening and whether it can be fixed.
Every team deals with injuries and absences. The Vikings had specific and damaging examples from the jump. Justin Jefferson missed much of training camp with a hamstring issue. Jordan Addison missed three games with a suspension. J.J. McCarthy missed five games. The offensive line has been beset with injuries. On defense, Andrew Van Ginkel in particular stands out as a key absence.
Those explain in part the underperformance relative to expectations on both sides of the ball. Pro Football Focus grades the Vikings offense as No. 28 in the NFL and the defense No. 24. I would have imagined they would be closer to No. 15 and No. 5 at the start of the year. When both sides of the ball struggle, heroes try to emerge.
Ironically, PFF ranks the Vikings as having the No. 1 special teams in the entire NFL. They have a high level and a high standard. But the kickoff coverage unit “got greedy” on that play against the Bears. There was pressure to deliver; the kickoff came with 50 seconds left in a one-point game. Taking precious seconds off the clock and keeping the Bears from starting at the 35 (where a touchback would put them) mattered a lot given that Chicago had three timeouts. Instead of being satisfied with a good play and trusting the defense to do the rest, a handful of players tried to do too much.
The elephant in the room, though, is the overall play the Vikings have received from their quarterbacks. Between five starts each from J.J. McCarthy and Carson Wentz, PFF has the Vikings No. 31 out of 32 teams in passing grades. With better play from McCarthy (and his pass catchers) against the Bears, the Vikings likely don’t need a desperate rally and we aren’t talking about a special teams gaffe.
Can it be fixed? The Vikings are getting healthier. We have seen evidence of complementary football and three-unit trust in the win over the Lions. But all three phases have since contributed to home losses against the Ravens and Bears. But until the offense produces more points, which will allow the defense a better chance to play with leads and create turnovers, it feels more likely that frustration will be just as prevalent as trust.
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“I think there’s an element to it, too, where guys want to win so bad, they want to win that down so bad. ... They think in their minds in the moment is the best thing for the play is by going to make the play myself,” O’Connell said. “I think there’s some of that going on throughout our team. It’s a better problem to have than, than trying to find the fight and trying to find the guys that will play physical and hard for 60 minutes. We have that box checked in my opinion right now.”
That boils down to this: The Vikings are playing hard but not smart. And more to the point, players are pressing and trying to do to much instead of trusting their assignments.
It feels like a fair assessment, one that matches my eye test.
If we can agree that O’Connell has diagnosed a key part of the team’s problem this year, let’s talk at the start of today’s 10 things to know about why it’s happening and whether it can be fixed.
Every team deals with injuries and absences. The Vikings had specific and damaging examples from the jump. Justin Jefferson missed much of training camp with a hamstring issue. Jordan Addison missed three games with a suspension. J.J. McCarthy missed five games. The offensive line has been beset with injuries. On defense, Andrew Van Ginkel in particular stands out as a key absence.
Those explain in part the underperformance relative to expectations on both sides of the ball. Pro Football Focus grades the Vikings offense as No. 28 in the NFL and the defense No. 24. I would have imagined they would be closer to No. 15 and No. 5 at the start of the year. When both sides of the ball struggle, heroes try to emerge.
Ironically, PFF ranks the Vikings as having the No. 1 special teams in the entire NFL. They have a high level and a high standard. But the kickoff coverage unit “got greedy” on that play against the Bears. There was pressure to deliver; the kickoff came with 50 seconds left in a one-point game. Taking precious seconds off the clock and keeping the Bears from starting at the 35 (where a touchback would put them) mattered a lot given that Chicago had three timeouts. Instead of being satisfied with a good play and trusting the defense to do the rest, a handful of players tried to do too much.
The elephant in the room, though, is the overall play the Vikings have received from their quarterbacks. Between five starts each from J.J. McCarthy and Carson Wentz, PFF has the Vikings No. 31 out of 32 teams in passing grades. With better play from McCarthy (and his pass catchers) against the Bears, the Vikings likely don’t need a desperate rally and we aren’t talking about a special teams gaffe.
Can it be fixed? The Vikings are getting healthier. We have seen evidence of complementary football and three-unit trust in the win over the Lions. But all three phases have since contributed to home losses against the Ravens and Bears. But until the offense produces more points, which will allow the defense a better chance to play with leads and create turnovers, it feels more likely that frustration will be just as prevalent as trust.
Strib
