After “Disappointing Effort,” The Vikings Face a Mountain of Pressure
The game finished off with a 31-9 score. Sam Darnold played his worst game of the season and the offense was contained to single-digits in scoring for the first time all year. Kevin O’Connell characterised the game as being a “disappointing effort” in his post-game press conference.
The issue is now one that PurplePTSD discussed on Friday. All of the sudden, there’s a massive amount of pressure on the Vikings seeing as how they’re now forced to travel to LA to take on the Rams. In the 14-3 season, Minnesota only lost to the Lions (X2) and then the Rams. Any chance the season ends with a loss to Detroit to end the regular season — thus dropping Minnesota down to the 5th seed — before a loss to Los Angeles in the playoffs’ opening round?
The Vikings Face Huge Pressure in Round 1 of the Playoffs
Lately, there has been no shortage of praise for Minnesota. A nine-game winning streak and a shot at the conference’s top spot can do that.
The issue is simply that Minnesota’s offense was terribly flat on Sunday Night Football. The connection between Darnold and Justin Jefferson was off all night, resulting in 9 targets toward the WR1 but just 3 catches for 54 scoreless yards. In several instances, Darnold’s ball was coming in too high.
Several of the other playmakers struggled to get a consistent connection with their QB1.
Jordan Addison had 6 targets turn into 1 catch for 0 yards (not a typo). T.J. Hockenson was targeted 8 times for 2 catches and 9 yards. Now, step back and do the math on those three top weapons — Jefferson, Addison, and Hockenson — to see the production. Darnold targeted those three 23 times, resulting in 6 catches for 63 yards. Ugly.
For the day, Darnold went 18/41 for 166 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. His passer rating was down at 55.5.
Brian Flores and the defense deserve a lot of credit for the work they did. Yes, allowing 31 points isn’t stellar, but this was a game where the offense had barely anything go right. There’s no defeating Detroit — and at Ford Field, no less — unless there’s adequate run support.
Keep in mind that the teams went into the half at 10-6. Again, Flores had his guys ready to play. Jahmyr Gibbs eventually broke through to put the game away in the second half as the defensive dam broke, but poor offense directly feeds into poor defense. The Vikings need O’Connell’s side of the ball to be significantly better.
One final negative: Will Reichard again had some tough moments. There was the missed field goal alongside the kickoff that went out of bounds. How much concern is there at kicker for the Vikings?
The pressure now shifts toward the Vikings in a major way. Prior to the Sunday night defeat, there was so much optimism surrounding this team. What happens if there’s an opening-round loss? Certainly not the conclusion that many envisioned as Minnesota was piling up wins back in November and December.
The Rams are the higher seed and playing at home, but they should feel very little pressure. Kevin O’Connell has just completed his second excellent regular season (he went 13-4 back in 2022). What nobody in Minnesota wants to see is an encore of how the 2022 season ended, losing in the first round to an inferior opponent. If that occurs, then the narrative (fair or not) will shift toward O’Connell being a great regular season coach who can’t get it done in the postseason.
On Monday, January 13th at 7 p.m. CT, the Vikings and Rams will battle at SoFi Stadium. Losing that game will result in no shortage of criticism being directed at Minnesota.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.
K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.
