What the Vikings Simply Haven’t Gotten Right Yet
At 2-1, the Minnesota Vikings are mostly performing well, escaping the initial three-game slate with an afloat record against mediocre opponents. The real test arrives after the bye in Week 6, and before then, the team must clean up three main facets.
While the 2025 Minnesota Vikings have a winning record at 2-1, a few areas still need clean-up on both sides of the ball.
Minnesota is excelling on defense, generally speaking, rushing the football at an unusually good clip, and winning the turnover battle, but the following three items need urgent repair.
The Vikings Must Fix These 3 Things
It’s a to-do list for Kevin O’Connell’s team.
1. Time of Possession
Via holding the ball on offense, a stat that usually reflects the most dominant NFL teams in a given season, Minnesota ranks 28th in the league — otherwise known as fifth-worst.
The Vikings haven’t sustained terribly long drives to start the season, probably a byproduct of a rookie quarterback in the first two games and the inability to convert on 3rd Down. Minnesota also ranks fifth-worst in offensive 3rd Down Conversion percentage, so the two stats go hand in hand.
This problem has existed for a while under Kevin O’Connell. His offenses are built on explosive plays, and when the operation is rolling, Minnesota is scoring fast. Until recently, too, the Vikings had a hard time running the football at a consistent clip. Signs have shown that the rushing offense has turned the corner with Jordan Mason involved, however.
Perhaps the time of possession will stabilize with Carson Wentz fulfilling his “game manager” role in the next two weeks. Center Ryan Kelly said about Wentz this week: “I think he had a great week last week of preparation. It’s not an easy offense to learn. I was here since April, and it still took me a while to figure some things out because you’re starting to see the end evolution.”
“We’re many evolutions down with this offense now, and if you weren’t here for the origin, it’s a little hard to pick up. We went from A to Z — how did we get here? I think a crash course for him. He was obviously in LA for a little bit, so there’s some carry-over in the McVay system with Kevin.”
Wentz played a clean game in Week 3, and a quarterback controversy may be on the way when J.J. McCarthy heals from a high ankle sprain — if Minnesota goes undefeated on Wentz’s watch.
Kelly added, “But I think he’s done a great job. I mean, that’s just the professionalism — you don’t stick around this league for this long without being a pro, being on top of your stuff. And it’s the work that nobody sees — in here, walking through plays before and after, just figuring out concepts, motions, runs, all of our checks and stuff like that.”
“It’s critical for him, and he’s done a great job.”
2. The Passing Game
Comically, per the way O’Connell called the offense in 2022, 2023, and 2024, Minnesota ranks 30th through three games in passing yards and dead last in passing playcall percentage. Vikings quarterbacks have also accounted for the second-worst interception percentage per attempt, and no team has been sacked more when dropping back to throw. One might recall the loss against the Atlanta Falcons when J.J. McCarthy got knocked around all night. That inflated the bad sacks-allowed numbers.
Entering Week 4, as strange as it sounds, Minnesota has one of the very worst passing offenses in the business. Perhaps that will stabilize with more Carson Wentz snaps or McCarthy’s eventual development under center.
For now, Minnesota is not passing the football effectively or efficiently.
3. Penalties
The purple team ranks dead last per penalties per play through three games. No NFL team is worse in terms of penalty percentage. It also ranks third-worst in total penalties, regardless of percentage.
And the Vikings have tallied the ninth-most penalty yards overall. Thankfully for their sake, the club smoked the Cincinnati Bengals last weekend, so the 38-point win put deodorant all over the 13 penalties. For the most part, nobody really cared about the penalty parade.
Still, the coaching staff knows of the problem, and as early as Week 4 in Ireland, Minnesota must nip the penalty malady in the bud.
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