Here’s What’s Wrong with the Vikings Right Now
The Minnesota Vikings take on the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday and are somehow favored to prevail by two or three points.
Here’s what’s wrong with the Vikings right now. From shaky execution to roster concerns, Minnesota’s early issues are becoming clear.
Kevin O’Connell’s team is 1-1 through games, but it just doesn’t feel that way for many, given the squad’s poor performance in primetime last weekend against the Atlanta Falcons.
And as a matter of diagnosis, here’s what’s wrong with the Vikings at the moment.
What’s Ailing the Vikings?
Three main items are the culprits.
1. Bottom Tier QB Performance
Above all else, J.J. McCarthy’s growing pains have stopped the Vikings offense dead in its tracks. There’s no other way around it. McCarthy is the NFL’s second-worst passer through two games per EPA+CPOE, only outranked [in a bad way] by Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward.
Any team that employs the NFL’s second-worst passer per EPA+CPOE will not be prosperous, and the offense will fail to launch.
That’s what’s happening to the Vikings. All of McCarthy’s movements so far are herky-jerky. He’s only shown brief flashes of poise and production. It’s all to be expected for a first-year starter, so the sky is not falling.
McCarthy’s 3 fumbles, 2 interceptions, and 9 sacks taken are limiting Minnesota’s ceiling on offense. When he turns the corner, the offense will improve. The unit, too, will probably look closer to its normative behavior when Carson Wentz steps into the lineup on Sunday.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert mentioned the Vikings’ quarterback situation this week: “The Vikings have a long history of unexpected playoff runs with veteran backup quarterbacks who stepped in during the season, from Randall Cunningham in 1998 to Gus Frerotte in 2008 to Case Keenum in 2017.”
“Wentz fits a similar mold, and there is genuine optimism inside the team facility that he can steady an offense that has undergone multiple personnel changes over the past month due to injuries and the suspension of receiver Jordan Addison. But the development of McCarthy, the No. 10 pick in the 2024 draft, will remain a top organizational priority.”
Wentz should be able to follow Minnesota’s pattern of backup quarterback majesty. He feels like a logical next candidate.
“As unfair as it might sound, he is nearing a crossroads experienced by several other highly drafted quarterbacks in recent years. He threw 713 passes in his career at Michigan, roughly half the average of the other five quarterbacks selected in first round of the 2024 draft, and there are multiple recent examples of quarterbacks who entered the league with limited college experience and were not able to stay on the field long enough to develop beyond it,” Seifert continued.
“Trey Lance is the most notable example, having thrown 318 passes at North Dakota State before the San Francisco 49ers made him the No. 3 pick in 2021. Lance has been on three teams and started five games in the NFL. A similar fate might befall Anthony Richardson Sr., who had thrown 393 passes at Florida when the Indianapolis Colts selected him at No. 4 in 2023. He is currently backing up Daniel Jones.”
2. Poor Tackling
Per Stathead, the Vikings have 22 missed tackles in two contests, a ruthless and silly statistic for the defense that ranked No. 2 in the NFL overall last season. Only the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets have more missed tackles after Week 2.
And, according to Pro Football Focus, the Vikings rank second-worst in the NFL per tackling grade, with a lowly 38.3 mark, outpacing just one team, the Seattle Seahawks. Indeed, Brian Flores’ group is the second-worst tackling unit in the business.
If you follow Vikings football quite intently and use PFF as a reference, the reason all the players’ individual grades are slow is because of this very reason: the tackle is suspect and out of the norm, especially compared to last year.
You’ll know that Flores’ gang has turned the corner, returning to a top-flight defense, when it tackles at a normal clip and concludes the current malarkey.
3. Terrible 3rd Down Conversion % on Offense
You can usually tell if a team is any good, on offense and defense, based on its 3rd Down conversion percentage.
The Vikings rank fourth-worst right now in offensive 3rd Down conversion percentage, and nothing will go right, in general, until Kevin O’Connell, J.J. McCarthy, or Carson Wentz fixes this problem. O’Connell’s team converts about 30% of 3rd Downs through to games, and that’s just not going to cut it.
Most of the problem is McCarthy’s raw acclimation to the league — see: No. 1 on this list — but the offensive line owns some blame, too.
Like the tackling stipulation, when Minnesota begins to convert 3rd Downs, it will turn the corner and return to its winning ways.
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