Watch the postgame “Access Vikings”:
5. Sloppy play has to fall on K.O.
O’Connell got this reporter’s Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year vote last season. Well deserved. This year, it’s time to stop talking about cleaning up penalties and sloppiness and just do it. The Vikings went three-and-out twice in their first four possessions. Not great when the Chargers came prepared for a track meet.
The second three-and-out actually produced 18 yards. How, you ask? Because – surprise, surprise – there was a holding penalty on first-and-10 with the Vikings already down 14-3. Left guard Donovan Jackson was the guilty party. It nullified a rare run call by K.O. that gained 4 yards. A similar run-game-killing penalty happened when Josh Oliver was called for holding on a 6-yard run on first down against the Eagles four days earlier. This time, the Vikings’ offense clawed its way into a third-and-2 at its 47-yard line. That’s when K.O. – surprise, surprise – threw the ball and punted after the incompletion.
This offense will never have rhythm, especially with J.J. McCarthy virtually certain to return, until O’Connell cleans things up and builds some sort of consistent run/pass balance.