Monday RE:action: Vikings/Chargers
By author
Coach Frazier preached two things at his Monday presser: consistency and convert on third downs.
The Purple were 4 of 11 on third downs yesterday. The third down story reflects the story of the entire game. For the most part the Vikes had manageable third downs in the first half: 3 & 6, 3 & 5. By and large our beloved Purple did not put themselves into 3rd and long in the first half. The second half was the complete opposite. They rarely were in third and manageable. We would all agree they have to convert the manageable third downs.
Because the Purple were not able to convert they were obviously putting the Bolts offense on the field. And when on the field the Chargers chewed up clock. Ironically, I think that is the approach the Vikes would like to employ. I think the Purple would like to chew the clock with the running game and keep opposing offenses off the field. But the Bolts pulled the switch a roo. They were the ones controlling the clock yesterday.
The Vikes had the ball for a total of less than 8 minutes in the ENTIRE second half yesterday. 8 minutes total.
Musgrave came under much criticism for his playcalling yesterday with what seemingly looked like: run, run, pass, punt. It certainly seemed like the Purple could run on the Bolts D. The Vikes did rush for 6.1 per. Yet the offense seemed disjointed and could not get into any rhythm. The offense seemed out of sorts the entire afternoon. Then when we needed som Mo’; Webb came in and the out of rhythm nation that is the Minnesota offense sputtered into a 3 and out. It begged the question whether Webb coming in at that point was scripted or a gut call?
Regardless, your beloved head football coach nailed it. The second half Vikes were not the same as the first half Vikes. We call that inconsistency. We were abysmal on third down and need to convert and execute when called upon. I’m looking at you BB. That said, we need to put our beloved Purple into successful positions. I’m looking at you Bill Musgrave.
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