Something Has to Change for the Vikings’ Offense
The Minnesota Vikings very obviously wanted to give their lackluster running game (that has been that way the entirety of the Kevin O’Connell era) a bit of a boost, as evidenced by their offseason transactions earlier this year.
The trade for RB Jordan Mason with the San Francisco 49ers, the extension of TE Josh Oliver, and the additions of Ryan Kelly and Will Fries through free agency and Ohio State guard Donovan Jackson in the 2025 NFL Draft all signaled an attempted resurrection of a once-great Minnesota ground game.
As we know, this hasn’t come to fruition. A sizable piece of the pie of blame can be attributed to injuries. The Vikings’ offensive line has been decimated, with Christian Darrisaw, Ryan Kelly, Donovan Jackson, and Brian O’Neill all missing games, forcing Minnesota to give considerable snaps to names like Blake Brandel, Walter Rouse, Michael Jurgens, and Justin Skule.
Of course, the Vikings were also without the services of RB Aaron Jones for four games due to a hamstring injury, forcing him onto the injured reserve list before his return in Week 8 on Thursday Night Football against the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Vikings’ Putrid Rushing Offense by the Numbers
Looking at the numbers, regardless of who has actually been able to put on their shoulder pads on Sundays, the Vikings’ rushing offense has been completely irrelevant through the first seven games of their 2025 campaign.
Per NFL Pro, Minnesota touts the 26th-best rushing offense in the NFL by rushing yards per game at 93.9. Their abysmal -0.17 EPA/Rush is the second-worst in the NFL, beating out only the Las Vegas Raiders, who boast an even worse -0.26. Their team’s rushing success rate of 41.2% is 21st in the NFL, humorously one spot in front of the Detroit Lions.
They shouldn’t be struggling this much. Receiving threats like Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison (and teams’ willingness to let Carson Wentz try to beat them) have caused the Vikings to face light boxes at the 9th-highest rate in the NFL at 43.1%. Conversely, they face stacked boxes 11.1% of the time —the lowest rate in the NFL. The moral of the story is that opposing defenses do not respect the Vikings’ run game, and why would they?
A Poor Rushing Attack and the Effect on J.J. McCarthy
The Vikings’ ground game to this point is a bad omen for QB J.J. McCarthy. A young signal caller’s best friend is a good running game, and as sad as it is for the kid, the Vikings don’t have that. Rather, they have a bottom-five rushing offense in the entire National Football League. The inability to run the ball must change with a quickness, because NFL defenses are going to let McCarthy try to beat them until he proves that he can.
It’s nice to imagine the Vikings’ offense if they had a running game that resembled anything close to a quality one. Kevin O’Connell’s passing game mastery, paired with a running game with a legitimate threat to gash you, would give opposing defensive coordinators nightmares trying to gameplan for the purple and gold offensive unit. Sadly, the Vikings don’t have that, and the proof is in the pudding that defenses are just fine with letting Viking rushers try their luck on the ground.
