Zulgad: Vikings’ offense is a work in progress, but patience won’t last much longer
The Vikings’ opening possession of the season could not have gone better.
Kirk Cousins capped the 10-play, 78-yard drive with a 5-yard scoring pass to Justin Jefferson on fourth-and-1 in a 23-7 victory over the Green Bay Packers. It was the type of production many expected when offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell was hired from the Super Bowl champion Rams to install a similar scheme as Vikings’ coach.
Unfortunately, the majority of series that have followed have fallen well short of expectations.
In 19 possessions since the Vikings have only two touchdowns. The team’s possession and drive chart in an ugly 24-7 loss on Monday night in Philadelphia read like this: Punt, punt, touchdown, punt, punt, interception, interception, punt, interception, end of game.
Cousins’ three second-half picks came from the Eagles’ 19-, 27- and 9-yard line. This wasn’t what anyone had in mind when O’Connell was hired to replace Mike Zimmer, with the expectation he would create a Cousins-friendly offense. While Zimmer and Cousins rarely had meaningful conversations, O’Connell is the guy calling plays into Cousins’ helmet on game day and working with him during the week.
The coach and quarterback are in this together, but so far that partnership isn’t paying off with points. As ugly as Monday’s loss was for the Vikings, the Eagles made numerous mistakes and gave Minnesota a chance to rally.
Watching the Vikings go through training camp practices, it was clear that the installation, and execution, of this system was going to be a work in progress. Cousins and wide receiver Adam Thielen were among those who talked about the complexities of the system, and Cousins acknowledged the scheme had evolved in many ways since O’Connell was his position coach in 2017 with Washington.
There will be some who argue that Cousins and the offense — not to mention O’Connell — might have gotten some valuable reps during the preseason if the first-team skill position players had been used. But O’Connell wisely went along with the trend of not wanting to risk getting key players hurt in any of the three meaningless exhibitions.
There was a time when the first team on both sides of the ball played the opening half of the third preseason game, but that has been altered now that the exhibition schedule is down to three games per team. Getting Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, Cousins and others in for a few plays wasn’t going to alter how the offense is currently performing and the risk would have been too great.
The Vikings are averaging 15 points in two games, placing them 25th in the league in scoring. Jefferson has 15 receptions for 232 yards and two touchdowns, but Thielen has only seven catches for 88 yards and wasn’t targeted once in the first half on Monday night. K.J. Osborn, the Vikings’ third receiver, has only five catches for 39 yards.
Cook had a career-low six carries on Monday and the Vikings only ran the ball 11 times. In the opening two games, Cook has 26 carries for 107 yards. He had 20 or more carries in seven of the 13 games he played in last season and 42 in the opening two games of 2021.
Zimmer’s overreliance on the run game drew justified criticism, but 11 rushing attempts in a tough road game isn’t going to cut it. O’Connell knows this and knows there are adjustments to be made and plenty of things that need to be quickly ironed out. The first will be making sure Cousins has far better games than he did against the Eagles, when he looked nothing like the quarterback who showed poise in the pocket against the Packers.
“I thought we definitely could have helped him out a little more,” O’Connell said, “and I think Kirk would be the first one to tell you there were some plays across the board there where, in the second half, we — myself included — pressed a little bit, trying to make a lot back up in a hurry. When it really comes back down to it, you watch that tape real closely. Offensively, we left a lot of yards out there. We left a lot of plays out there to be made, whether it was catching a football or just the detail in what we did.”
So when will this offense start to click?
Sunday’s game should present an excellent opportunity. The Lions (1-1) are second-to-last in the NFL in scoring defense (32.5 points per game), ahead of only the Arizona Cardinals (33.5). O’Connell talked about getting Cook more involved, and it’s unlikely that Thielen again will be a forgotten man.
As much focus as there will be on Cousins to see how he rebounds, O’Connell knows the spotlight also will be on his play calling. He acknowledged he fell short in that area in Week 2.
“Looking back on it, did we have to get it all back at once?” O’Connell said of his approach. “Did we have to try to get that score tied quickly, or did we just need to play smart and kind of play the right way? I think that’s where it kind of starts with me, and then it trickles down to our staff and players, first and foremost. That’s 100 percent why I think I could have been better for our group.”
O’Connell likely will get a few more weeks to get it right before impatience sets in. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the clock is ticking for this work in progress offense to turn into a finished (and successful) product.
