This Is An Absolute DISASTER for the Vikings...

This is an absolute disaster for the Vikings as despite only losing their first game of the season, the details expose many alarming elements that bring up tons of questions that need to be addressed if the team truly wants to get back on track for the rest of the season. We're going to break it down all of that in this episode of Vikings Digest, but first we gave you guys a last minute goal of hitting 5,700 subs last night before we kicked off against the Lions today and you guys crushed it as we had over 100 new subscribers just last night. Thank you guys very much and if you're a part of the 89% of viewers who are not yet subscribed and want to stay up to date on all things Vikings, make sure to hit that subscribe button and the bell icon so you don't miss any of the episodes when they drop. With that, let's just hop right into it and rip off the band-aid, which is the Vikings' brutal first loss of the season as it was their first loss in 366 days as it was just shy of making it up to a full year before we had lost a game. And now that streak came to an end and it was, of course, at the hands of the Detroit Lions of all teams. And I absolutely hate to say that. And I hate to see it because you don't want to lose to a division rival. Those games, they are huge, especially when the score was not very large. I mean, when you look at what the score was as far as the final score, it was 19 to 15. It was a brutal, brutal one for the Vikings to have to drop. And I hated to have to see it because, I mean, you don't want to have to see it. I mean, you want to see the Vikings. Go off and get a very big win against a division opponent at home. And it just was not going according to plan for the Vikings at all. It was a bad day as far as passing. It was a bad day as far as running the ball. Passing wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it still had a lot of stuff left to be desired. As Kyler Murray with his passing stats, it was not abysmal, but it's going to be made out to be a lot worse than it actually was. As he went 210 yards, two passing touchdowns, 17 for 29. He did have a pick and he did have 35 rushing yards. And unfortunately, it was enough to be the highest rusher on the team. As you look at the other guys that were rushing, Aaron Jones only had 22 yards rushing. Jordan Mason only had 20 yards rushing. So this was a very big problem for the Vikings, and it persisted throughout the entire game as they were basically forced to pass and became one-dimensional as a result. So that was a big thing that Minnesota needs to kind of fix as far as going forward for the season if they want to bounce back. And unfortunately, they did not come out of the game unscathed as there was some injuries as well. Kevin O'Connell saying that Theo Jackson had a quad contusion, did not return. We'll see how he comes in and feels this week. Brian O'Neill had the call from up top. He was fine with a concussion eval. Isaiah Rogers, ankle sprain, Max Bredesen evaluated for a knee. He returned. Kyler Murray, just some hamstring tightness, and he was able to return late in the football game. And with Kyler Murray, he kind of downplayed the hamstring tightness saying, yeah, I'm fine. It's all good. It was just later in the game. It was the second last drive of the game. Not a big deal. So I'm not overly worried about it. Theo Jackson did make a really good play. So I think that he's kind of going on a little bit of an upswing. So it sucks to see him kind of take a step back with that quad contusion. Hopefully it's not too big of an issue and it doesn't ruin his season. But again, it's the Minnesota Vikings. Unfortunately, when it rains, it pours in Minnesota. And as far as the biggest thing, how it wasn't, how Minnesota could not run the ball, Kevin O'Connell did address it. And it was a very lengthy press conference that a lot of people will say was filled with excuses. Unfortunately. I will agree with them in this scenario, as there was a lot of things that the Vikings did wrong in this game. Kevin O'Connell going for it on fourth and four, and apparently he liked the look that they had. They just could not get it executed properly. But again, you got to take the points when you can get them. Will Reichardt had a rough game. He did have a missed field goal earlier in the game. So that is kind of something that you got to bounce back from, kid. You got to just keep on trucking, just kick it through the next, kick the next one through, and you're going to be all good. He did get a point after, which was nice. However, Minnesota needs to just absolutely play complementary football, and they cannot do that. And the reason why is because they cannot run the ball right now. As Kevin O'Connell said, we've got to take a look at the perfect balance to be able to run it. We want to run it and then activate our best players on the perimeter in Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. Those guys can change football games, and we've got to find a way to do that. And if anything was made very apparent today, it was that Minnesota. Needs to go out and get Jonathan Taylor. If today was not a pitch to say, hey, the Vikings need running back help. This was exhibit A through Z. Basically, the entire game, all 60 minutes proved why they need to go out and get a running back. A lot of people will say they need to go and get quarterback and you might have a little bit of a compelling argument after this week. But again, you don't want to get over reactionary. It's just one game. However, it's now two consistent games where we've had both of our running backs healthy And neither of them put up diddly squat. So, Jonathan Taylor, he did play a low snap count today in the Colts game, only playing 63% of the snaps as McGowan kind of got involved in there as well for the Colts as we saw him on full display the other day, or last week against the Vikings, where he had a really solid game. Jonathan Taylor having a lot less snap count definitely means that he is going to be traded now that the Colts have finally given in and said, yeah, we're now open to trading him because this is an absolute dumpster fire this year. Nolan Teasley. Get on the phone and get Jonathan Taylor. If you can't get Jonathan Taylor, go out and get Tony Pollard. He's now had five games in the last two, or five touchdowns in the last two games. If you can't get Jonathan Taylor, you don't want to give up that much for him. Tony Pollard would be a great guy to bring in that would not offset the balance of that running back room whatsoever. However, Jonathan Taylor, of course, big flashy name, marquee name, that would be a lot better. But I think Tony Pollard, with the way that he's playing right now, like getting on a bad Tennessee offense. Imagine if he was on, I mean, our offense is not much better, but if he were able to give that offensive run game a jumpstart would be exactly what they need. But the biggest thing that killed the Vikings as well was the inconsistencies. And Kyler Murray was also talking about that. Saying that penalties, too many misses, just too much inconsistency. We didn't execute high enough level in a hostile environment on the road against a good team. So credit for them, they're playing the way they did today. And I thought we had opportunities to get it done today, but we just did it. It wasn't enough. And he did also say that. He said that the confidence in the group is not going to waver. I know we have the guys in the locker room on that side of the ball to be the best. And that's truly how I feel. But again, we got to go out there and do it on Sundays. And right now, it's just not the case. Was not good enough. And one of the big contributors to that as well, the same, whether it's me or somebody else, there's too many, my bads and it's not good enough. It got us beat today. And that was a very big one, this big thing to say, because absolutely true Minnesota, whether it was, I mean, on offense, they were doing all pretty bad on defense. They did all right for most of the game until like, we knew it was going to happen. It happens every time we play the Lions, except for that Christmas game, which I'm thinking was now a fluke as far as us beating the Lions in that JJ McCarthy game. Even then, Jahmyr Gibbs had a decent game in that one. But Jahmyr Gibbs, over the course of the game, with Minnesota Vikings, I don't know what it is. He just has our number. Lions in general have our number, except for last year. And Jahmyr Gibbs, over the course of the game, was a little bit slower, but he was just chipping away, chipping away, chipping away. Before you know it, by the fourth quarter, he had over 100 scrimmage yards and rushing yards. And that is something that Minnesota absolutely cannot do. Especially when they're running back two. is absolutely dog-walking us. It's back-to-back weeks now where we did a decent job of containing Gibbs at least for the first half of the game. And then the fourth quarter came and it was just an absolute, just the levees broke and it was just, he was off to the races. But it's now back-to-back weeks that Minnesota has let an RB2 run all over them. You cannot have that. It's a reason why they're an RB2. And I know you're not game planning for it necessarily, but start game planning for it, damn it, because right now, You're getting torched by back-to-back weeks where you've had a running back, too, put up over 50 yards rushing on you, and their lead back has also had a decent game where they scored on you or had over 100 yards. That is something that absolutely needs to be fixed. And again, the defense, they did what they could. They played a really good game. But again, the biggest thing that killed us in this game, aside from the offensive side of the ball, Was the defenders missing tackles? We had 16 or 17 missed tackles today. It's the most by a Brian Flores-led team since he came to Minnesota. Or a Brian Flores-led defense, I should say. I know a lot of people say he is leading that team. But this was a very frustrating one for the Vikings where everyone was just bouncing off of the ball carrier and Minnesota could not make tackles when they mattered in the moment. And we knew that this was going to get to a point where the defense... Was not able to fully win the game for us and do absolutely everything except move the ball on the offense. I mean, at this point, they might be able to move the ball better. But we knew that it was going to happen at some point. The sustainability question was looming all the past couple of weeks of how long before Minnesota was finally going to crumble under that pressure of trying to be sustainable when the defense is not going to be performing 100%. Defense, they performed 90% today. Brian Flores was blitzing like a madman. The pressure got there early. In the game, it just, over the course of the game, they started figuring us out, and that offense just started going away to the races where they were hitting the right gap, or just adjusting for that kind of rush on the one side, just bouncing around to the outside. It was ugly to see, and one thing that was also ugly to see, even though he made an amazing touchdown catch, Justin Jefferson had a very frustrating day, as he barely put up any yards outside of that touchdown, I think he only had about 30 yards or something like that in the game. And it got even worse as after the game, he did not speak to any press. And this is very rare from Jefferson, especially when he's a leader of this team that typically does not show a lot of, I mean, he shows frustration, but he doesn't show a lot of discontent for the media or will at least tough it through for the media. But today, even though he scored a touchdown was not the case and he did not want to speak to the media. And I totally understand that as well, because a guy like Justin Jefferson, he even said earlier in the week, he doesn't care about his stats as long as they're winning games. Right now, and his stats today weren't terrible. I mean, touchdown, a couple of catches, yada, yada, yada, decent for your fantasy scores. But again, there was a lot of missed opportunities. Ball was going too high. Ball was overthrown. It was just very bad across the board as far as trying to get Justin Jefferson the ball. And Kyler Murray also acknowledged that, even though he said earlier in the week that we We've got to find ways to get Justin Jefferson the ball. It was, again, some of the same stuff that we heard again today, where he said we've got to find ways to get him the ball. Obviously, he's frustrated. That's understandable. He is who he is, and he has every right to feel the way he feels when he doesn't get the ball. So, again, that's on us to find ways to get him the ball, and especially when Fox Sports put out a savage graphic during the game with the targets per game this season. He is 47th going into this game on Sunday, or when he was 47th going into this game, and he probably dropped even more. Even though we got a lot of targets, it still was not very productive, and it's just been a microcosm of this offense that has just been absolutely abysmal. 29th in yards per game, 30th in passing yards per game, 31st in offensive TDs per game, 27th in points per game, 27th on third down, 28th in yards per play, and 32nd in first downs per game. This is brutal, and you've got to wonder, at some point, Kevin O'Connell is either going They're going to have to change up what he's doing offensive play calling or. Give play calling over to Wes Phillips. I mean, can he do worse at this point? I don't know. That's going to be a very big question. I think to go through one more game of this, that conversation is going to get very loud and we're going to have to come to some very harsh realities as far as Kevin O'Connell's future as a play caller in Minnesota. I think as far as a coach and a leader, he still is great in that aspect. But play calling, he's really got to pick it up or put Carson Wentz in there. I don't know because right now with the quarterback shuffle, it's been absolute turmoil. When you look at the shuffling over the past two years, Signed Sam Darnold, one-year, $10 million deal. Draft JJ McCarthy, 10th overall. McCarthy suffered a season-ending injury. Darnold starts. Signed Daniel Jones to the practice squad. Let Darnold walk after 14-win season. Start McCarthy the following year. Three different QBs start in 2025, and Minnesota misses the playoffs. Signed Kyler Murray to a one-year vet minimum deal. You trade JJ McCarthy to the Giants. And that Kyler Murray one-year deal we all thought was going to be a steal. I mean, in retrospect, it kind of is. Minnesota's not losing too much financially because of it. However, what they are losing out on is wasting a all-time level defense where you guys could be winning games by blowouts right now. And a lot of people are thinking, well, if we had Kirk Cousins or even J.J. McCarthy at this point with the way that he's been playing for the Giants and now has seemingly cemented himself as their starting quarterback for the rest of the year, can't help but wonder what Minnesota would be doing if J.J. McCarthy was quarterback right now, if Sam Darnold was quarterback right now, Daniel Jones. Or even Carson Wentz at this point. But again, I don't think it's fully on Kyler Murray. I think a lot of it is play calling. I think a lot of it is execution. But we will see if they can have a game where they can play fully clean as far as not taking self-inflicted wound penalties and executing things to the level that we are used to seeing them or at least to something competent. I think that will quiet down the noise a little bit more. But if we have one more game like this, that is when I will start to concede as far as having conversations as far as maybe putting Carson Wentz in there. We're trading for Kirk Cousins at this point or somebody else to bring him in there and try and jumpstart this offense, maybe try and trade back for J.J. McCarthy at this point. I don't know. This goes to show that this J.J. McCarthy trade, even though you trade him for a bag of chips, it came back to bite you in the ass in a big way as Kyler Murray right now is faltering, even though we're 6-1. I know we're acting like the sky is falling because we only lost one game, but we knew that when the Vikings were going to lose a game, it was going to look ugly. Of course, the media narratives around it are blowing it out of proportion with the memes and all that. But again, we can't let this fraud kind of narrative overtake what the Vikings are trying to accomplish this year. And they just got to stay focused, go out, win this game at home Monday night against Buffalo. It's going to be a big one. But if you can win that game, it'll at least quiet the noise as far as you beating a good team finally or a great team or a contending team to try and just silence the critics a little bit. For at least one more week before we go against the Green Bay Packers. But let us know your guys' thoughts on the game down in the comments below. I didn't get as irate as I was during my rants during the live stream. Which if you guys missed it, I will link it in the description down below. But it was a very tumultuous game. And a tumultuous day for Vikings fans. Me personally, it was a rough day for me. And my fantasy team didn't even put up 50 points. Because I had Trey Tucker, Lamar Jackson, and Zay Flowers. So that really sucked. And the Vikings losing on top of that made it even worse. And losing in the way that they did, where it was ugly to watch for four quarters. The defense was fine, except for those missed tackles. But again, the biggest thing that killed us today was penalties, inconsistencies, having bad play calling, not being able to run the ball, and as well as not being able to tackle in key moments. Let us know your guys' thoughts down in the comments below. What you thought of the game. What was your biggest takeaway? I have a feeling I know what the comments are going to say, and I know a lot of them are going to be about Kevin O'Connell. But let us know anyways down in the comments below as that's going to do it for this episode of Vikings Digest. Again, thank you guys so much for liking, subscribing, hitting that bell icon so you don't miss the episodes when they drop. But for now, I've been your host, Griffin. Take care.