Tough to win when you have penalties, turnovers and batted-down balls. The inability to convert in short-yardage situations has been an issue with this staff every year. It's frustrating to see us generate positive runs and a few quick throws for yards and watch us depart from what works to intermediate and long shots that kill drives. K.O. gets a ton of praise for culture and his coaching, but it seems he has a tendency to out-think himself at times with poor calls instead of getting the first down and moving the chains.
— Rick S.
Vikings are 4-for-19 on third/fourth down-and-2-or-less when passing, which is 21%. When running in that same situation, we are 71%.
Help me figure out why we continue to ignore our tendency over more than this year to throw intermediate-to-deep routes with little success.
K.O., please learn to stop picking a pass play when third-and-1-or-2 yards will give a first down.
J.J. has shown his inexperience. He has much more to learn. Did I detect a note of panic with him?
We must keep the ball on offense more, by running more.
Defense is tired. I feel so sorry for our defense. They must seem like they play all the minutes of the whole game.
Three turnovers and two turnovers-on-downs (seems like a total of 8 balls given to the Ravens), with over 100 yards in penalties. No team can win a game that way. When will the players learn discipline? there must be a way to practice training the players, including the QB. Some were his fault.
Running plays work. Keep them going until they don't. Defenses have learned how to defend against our passing game, man-on-man coverage, not zone. Can the coaching staff find a way to make the passes when man-on-man coverage? Running plays?
I'm so disappointed, a team with so much All-Pro talent and so many mistakes. O'Connell and staff have a lot of work to do.
— Gill Sorg in New Mexico
I'm combining these thoughts. A major point of emphasis this offseason was trying to be better in short-yardage rushing situations. Hence the trade for Jordan Mason and the investments in the offensive line.
Stats before the game from NFLGSIS had the Vikings at 9-for-13 (69.2%) when running the ball at and 3-for-14 (21.4%) when attempting a pass on third-or-fourth-and-2-or-less.
O'Connell explained after the game that he planned to go for it on fourth down from that spot, as well, so he wanted to capitalize on single coverage against Jefferson.
The NFL has gotten much more aggressive across the league in those situations. But existential questions, 'What kind of game is this?' and 'Is the reward worth the risk?' are always valid.
At that point in that game, it was with a one-point lead following a great first quarter and mid-to-less-than second quarter.
The Ravens had about a five-minute advantage in time of possession in the first half, so it wouldn't be the worst thing to try to even that out with a clock-chewer of a possession.
The Vikings opened the second half with run of 17 yards and another run by Aaron Jones, Sr., for 5 more. A quick pass to the outside resulted in a gain of 4 by Jordan Addison.
The deep shot was selected instead of a safer play, even though a sack also could have negatively impacted the opportunity to go for it on fourth down. The return by Humphrey made it worse because the Ravens got basically normal starting field position.
If things do go as wrong as they did, it's up to the players to limit the damage better than what happened.
Baltimore was awarded 22 more yards on the following snap thanks to a questionable pass interference penalty against Harrison Smith and completely flipped the field with completions of 22 and 23 yards to the Minnesota 4.
The defense made an impressive stand to force a field goal, but Baltimore took the lead and then forced the fumble on the ensuing kickoff return to set up a 23-yard touchdown drive.