Game Notes And Tweets

Mike Zimmer left Saturday’s second preseason game feeling much better about the Minnesota Vikings defense, which responded well to the gashing they suffered in the first exhibition last week against the Denver Broncos. But it was far from a perfect outing for Zimmer’s squad, which has just one preseason game remaining before the season opener in Cincinnati three weeks from now.
For the first time since Zimmer became a head coach, his Vikings lost back-to-back preseason games, thanks in large part to a brutal performance from the offense. The Vikings fell 12-10 to the Indianapolis Colts in the final game at US Bank Stadium for more than a month. Let’s dive into what we learned in the loss.
1. The offense is really strugglingThe Vikings don’t have an offensive touchdown through two preseason games. It’s certainly easy to dismiss the worry that would accompany that stat with reasonable caveats. Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook haven’t played. Adam Thielen only took three snaps before an injury scare convinced the team to be cautious with him. Kirk Cousins played barely more than a quarter. These are, after all, meaningless exhibition games. All of that is fair.
But it’s also worth reflecting on just how bad the offense has looked as it tries to navigate life with a new offensive coordinator and a new offensive line. The unit went three-and-out on three of its first five drives. The group didn’t complete a pass to a wide receiver on any of those possessions. It went three-and-out on its first six drives of the second half.
The offensive line opened up some impressive holes in the running game and Ezra Cleveland and Oli Udoh both shined. But it was also a reminder of how one poor play from the front five can derail things. Rashod Hill, the starting left tackle with Christian Darrisaw still injured, was easily beaten to the outside and allowed a sack on Kirk Cousins.
The backup tight ends struggled to make an impression. The receivers struggled to get open. All in all, it was another bad night for the offense one week after another bad performance in the preseason opener.
Perhaps most concerning was that this wasn’t an aberration for the offense based on the last week. Throughout recent practices, the offense has been sloppy and is certainly behind where the defense is.
There’s a chance all of that means nothing when the Vikings go to Cincinnati in three weeks for the season opener. But you’d certainly prefer that they were clicking in the preseason.