Will the Vikings’ offense be better or worse in 2019?

Injuries

This may be kind of obvious or even a cop-out reason, but if the Vikings get hit even mildly by the injury bug, this offense could end up being worse than it was last year.

Obviously, if a star like Kirk Cousins, Stefon Diggs, or Adam Thielen went down for an extended period that would be horrible. The Vikings could still be competitive with just one of their star receivers, but if Sean Mannion or Kyle Sloter had to take over at quarterback the season would likely be lost, as defenses would make the unproven quarterback beat them, and that would be too tall a task to handle.

The position that the Vikings absolutely can’t afford an injury to is their offensive line, specifically, tackle. The Vikings are extremely thin here. Rashod Hill is the first man on the depth chart. If Riley Reiff were to go down for the season, the Vikings likely would try Brian O’Neill at left tackle and Hill at right.

Hill is okay in spot duty but as a starter, he seems to struggle. O’Neill would be playing a new position and by the time he gets familiar with it, the season could be already lost. Behind Hill, things get scary quick.

There is no experience there whatsoever. Storm Norton and 6th round rookie Oli Udoh round out the depth chart. Norton is big but hasn’t played much at all. Udoh has promise but is coming from a small school and needs a year of seasoning before he’s ready to even see backup duty.

There is Aviante Collins who can play guard or tackle, but man, if any of these guys were pressed into duty the Vikings offensive line would regress badly. The interior would be strong, but the outside blockers would be liabilities, and Kirk Cousins would be fearing for his life every time he dropped back.

Injuries will kill this offense this season, and if any of the starting tackles go down, the offense of the Minnesota Vikings as a whole will surely be worse than it was last year.