Vikings Alarm Bells Sound Off: 3 Players Who Need to be Better
The Vikings alarm bells are ringing pretty loudly after getting eviscerated on Thursday Night Football by a score of 37-10.
To be sure, Minnesota can fall back into some excuses, some of them even have some merit. And yet the brutal reality is that few, if any, will care. The Chargers aren’t immune to adversity and they somehow found a way to put together a strong night. While acknowledging that the loss by no means hangs on these players alone, consider three who need to be better.
Vikings Alarm Bells in 3 Struggling Players
1) Dallas Turner, Edge Rusher
Truth be told, folks, Dallas Turner simply isn’t a very good football player. In time, perhaps, the 22-year-old defender can become one, but he isn’t one right now. That’s concerning.
Scooping up Turner involved forfeiting a ton of draft capital.
Bringing in the No. 23 selection meant sacrificing a pair of 2nd-Round selections. And then making the leap up to No. 17 involved letting go of No. 23 (2024), No. 167 (2024), No. 88 (2025), and No. 126 (2025).
All of that for someone who is a non-factor quite regularly. All that for someone who got chosen ahead of Jared Verse, the No. 19 selection who won Defensive Rookie of the Year — terrorizing Minnesota in the playoffs, too — while earning elite grades on PFF.
Super long and fast, Dallas Turner is only a starter due to injury. He was an EDGE5 as a rookie and got bumped up to EDGE3 after the Vikings allowed some veterans to walk. Very little has been put on film to suggest that he’s currently an impact starter. Were I a rival offensive coordinator, I would be running at Turner early and often.
On TNF, Dallas Turner picked up an unnecessary roughness penalty for hitting Justin Herbert in the head. He also got dinged with an offside. Turner chipped in a couple tackles.
2) Jordan Mason, Running Back
Without question, the Vikings need to show much more patience when running the ball. There is, nevertheless, a case to be made for needing more from the powerful runner.
By the end of the game, Jordan Mason had 4 carries for 3 yards. He had a catch for 3 yards, as well.
No one thinks that Mr. Mason is the world’s most versatile back, but he’s someone who packs a wallop behind his shoulder pads. At times, one wonders if he would have benefited from being more decisive, putting his foot in the turf to get vertical rather than continue to search for room horizontally.
Going forward, the Vikings have no success unless they find a way to run the ball in at least an average manner. The quarterback was getting pummelled out there. A strong ground attack is long overdue for Coach O’Connell and the Vikings.
3) Carson Wentz, Quarterback
In fairness, Mr. Wentz was operating behind an injury-riddled offensive line while getting no ground support. Even worse, he was playing on the road on Thursday Night Football at less than full health. On several occasions, Wentz was working through considerable pain.
Wentz deserves better.
But while that’s obviously true, it’s still true that Wentz’s decision making hasn’t always been stellar. Nor have his passes always been crisp, hitting the receiver in the mitts instead of being off target or sometimes completely uncatchable.
Carson Wentz finished the game at 15/27 for 144 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. He was sacked 5 times, a number that feels far too low.
Carson Wentz is, in short, a depth passer. Not good enough to be a weekly starter. Minnesota likes to believe that it can elevate any passer, scheming up play calls that accentuate areas of strength while seeing benefit from the top-tier skill found in Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and so on. To a certain extent, that’s true, but there are limits (clearly).
The best outcome is for Carson Wentz to return to the bench. Once there, J.J. McCarthy can get back into the game while looking to follow through on the new mandate.
