After nearly pulling off an incredible escape act on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings ended up with exactly what they deserved — a heartbreaking 19-17 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Though they managed to take the lead in the final minute thanks to an impressive drive led by J.J. McCarthy, the Vikings played so poorly in general that they had no business beating the Bears.
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It was another rough outing for McCarthy as he continues to struggle through what can kindly be called growing pains. Is he salvageable? That’s a question the Vikings are going to have to start asking themselves if his poor play continues.
Here are some takeaways from the game:
McCarthy’s accuracy is a problem
After the game, McCarthy gave a blunt assessment of his performance, acknowledging that his passing needs to be more accurate if the Vikings are going to have any chance of success.
He’s spot on.
The accuracy was an issue for McCarthy through his first month as a starter, and it didn’t get any better last Sunday as he only completed 16 of 32 passes for 150 yards, a touchdown and a pair of interceptions.
As bad as the misses looked in real time, they looked even worse after watching the film. There were players running wide open down the field on multiple occasions, and he never even gave them a chance.
There’s no excuse for missing some of the throws McCarthy missed throughout the game. If he doesn’t improve dramatically over the next couple of months, difficult conversations will need to be had sooner rather than later.
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O’Connell called good game
A vocal minority of the fan base wanted to take play calling away from Kevin O’Connell last weekend. He responded to that nonsense by consistently putting McCarthy in a place to succeed. There was a healthy dose of Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason in the run game that, in turn, set up different looks in the pass game. The only problem was that McCarthy consistently missed some of the easy throws that were there to be made.
There was the misfire to Jordan Addison deep down the field off of play action. There was the misfire to T.J. Hockenson up the sideline with nobody around him. There was the misfire to Justin Jefferson on a mismatch that was perfectly schemed up.
There’s only so much O’Connell can do from the sideline. If anybody walks away from that game criticizing him for his play calling, they are intentionally focusing on the wrong things.
Addison had costly drop
With the Vikings trying to take control of the game in the early stages, McCarthy stepped up in the pocket and fired downfield to Addison, who was running wide open over the middle following a crisp route. It should have been a big play to help put the Vikings into scoring position. Instead, Ryan Wright came on to punt.
Maybe things would’ve played out differently has Addison made a catch he absolutely should have made. Later, another uncharacteristic drop from Addison stopped a drive in its tracks
Asked about both of his drops after the game, Addison lamented his mistakes, adding that he needs to be better for McCarthy moving forward. The same can be said about McCarthy, however, when looking at all of his plays in the aggregate.
Defense needs to force turnovers
It wouldn’t be fair to place too much blame on the defense considering how effectively it was able to keep Caleb Williams out of a rhythm. The Chicago quarterback never seemed comfortable because of the way the defense was playing on the other end.
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Though he managed to avoid sacks like he was Harry Houdini in his prime, Williams was running for his life for large chunks of the game. That was partly responsible for Williams completing 16 of 32 passes — yes, the same as McCarthy — for 193 yards and no touchdowns.
But for as much as the Vikings were able to bother him inside and outside of the pocket, they were never able to turn him over. This is the latest game during which they failed to force a turnover.
It was a strength of the Vikings last season as they led the league in takeaways. It has been a weakness this season, a concerning trend that needs to change.
Special teams giveth and taketh away
The duality of special teams was on display at different stretches throughout the game.
The Vikings got a 42-yard punt return by Myles Price that helped provide a spark a pivotal moment. They also allowed a 56-yard kickoff return to Devan Duvernay that set up Cairo Santos’ game-winning field goal as time expired.
The good news for the Vikings? It appears Price has a chance to be the best kick and punt returner they’ve had in a decade. The bad news? The unit is still very much a work in progress.
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