Vikings Fans Can Feel a Little Better About Their Line
The Minnesota Vikings were knocked out of the playoff tournament by the 10-7 Los Angeles Rams. An erratic Sam Darnold made an appearance in consecutive games, and the offense came up short while Sean McVay’s Rams found a way to punish the weaknesses in Brian Flores’ defense.
Vikings Fans Can Feel a Little Better About Their Line
After the game, the blame was distributed between the coaching staff and the players.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell put some responsibility on himself, too, but when he was asked about the offensive line, he found strong words.
“There’s no question we’ve got to find a way to be able to give a quarterback, especially with players like Justin (Jefferson), Jordan (Addison), T.J. (Hockenson), we’ve got to find a way to solidify just the interior of the pocket,” O’Connell said. “There can be a thousand excuses made, whether it’s losing [Christian Darrisaw], or even midway through the game losing [Brian O’Neill] tonight, but for me, it’s the foundation of the interior of the pocket that we’re going to have to take a long look at.”
Darnold dropped back 50 times, facing pressure on 27 of them. Both offensive tackles had massive problems keeping opposing pass rushers Jared Verse and Byron Young away from Darnold, and the interior three ‒ Blake Brandel, Garrett Bradbury, and Dalton Risner ‒ have been put on notice by O’Connell’s comments.
Christian Darrisaw will eventually return from his knee injury, and Brian O’Neill has not given Skol Nation any reason for concern over the years; he will bounce back from what likely was his worst performance in years.
But there’s a silver lining. The Rams played their second postseason matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles and lost a nailbiter, almost completing a fabulous comeback.
Philadelphia is known, of course, for its excellent offensive line. The problem? Just like the Vikings, they couldn’t protect their signal-caller against the Rams. Jalen Hurts was also pressured on half of his dropbacks. He, just like Darnold, tends to hold the ball long to make plays rather than throwing it away, which doesn’t help the line.
It should be noted that the Eagles ran the ball extremely well, and the offensive line made a difference there.
Still, the Vikings can feel a little better knowing that the Eagles front also struggled to contain the young but scary defensive front coordinated by Chris Shula.
Regardless, to reach and eventually win the Super Bowl, it is necessary to conquer the best units across the league, and the Vikings need to improve their protection to prevail.
Minnesota’s Week 1 starting group (with Ed Ingram) is under contract for another season. Risner, who replaced Ingram halfway through the season, is scheduled to become a free agent for the third straight year.
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has roughly $58 million in cap space to fill out his roster, and he can afford to hire one or two big names in free agency. In addition to that, he could invest the 24th overall pick or the third-rounder to acquire another promising lineman.
For a decade, the Vikings have tried to improve the interior of the line by signing bargain bin free agents, and it’s finally time to change that to become a real contender that can impose its will by giving the quarterback an eternity and open running lanes for rushers even against the best of defensive lines.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Focus and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.
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Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt