The Vikings Must Correct These Mistakes Against the Lions
Christian Stoinev
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Coming off a disappointing loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings have a lot to correct. There were many let downs in that loss to the Eagles, from dropped passes, to dropped coverage, to turnovers, even to coaching as well. Sunday afternoon can’t come soon enough, and the Vikings will have a chance to correct some of those mistakes.
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More Engagement from the Secondary
After watching that debacle in Philadelphia, the thing I most want to see the Vikings correct is the lack of press coverage from the secondary. It seemed like Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense could get 10-plus yards on any given passing play just by throwing beneath the Vikings defense. Even if they got backed up, the Eagles managed to convert first downs repeatedly with big plays.
I’ve mentioned before that my biggest concern with this Vikings team is their secondary and it’s for those reasons that I’m hoping they have a big bounce back game and limit Jared Goff and the hot starting Detroit Lions offense.
More Energy, Better Preparation
Another concern is that the Vikings simply seemed under-prepared for Monday night’s game. Kevin O’Connell will get the benefit of the doubt from me considering this was his second game as the head coach and considering he took full responsibility post game.
But I’d like to see the coaching staff put the players in a better position to succeed, especially on offense where there’s no shortage of playmakers. I’m looking for KOC and the offense to be creative and show off some of those weapons in what might need to be a high scoring output to get the win.
The turnovers and the dropped passes aren’t as concerning for me because I think a lot has to do with the coaching. There’s only so much Kirk Cousins can do when the opposing team is blitzing and the Vikings aren’t prepared for it.
Drops happen from time to time, but when they start to add up it can kill the morale. There certainly was some of that on Monday, especially on the last turnover where Cousins threw up a jump ball for Justin Jefferson, who seemed mentally defeated by the performance Darius Slay put on against him.
Don’t Panic
It’s definitely no time to panic for the Vikings. It’s only Week 3, and they lost to an impressive Eagles squad last week. However, if some of these issues arise again this Sunday, it could derail what looks like a promising season ahead.
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