Defense needs to avoid slow starts
During the first quarter of their matchup against the Packers on Sunday, the Vikings’ defense couldn’t have looked much worse. Green Bay’s offense was doing pretty much whatever they wanted to begin the day and each of their first three drives resulted in them scoring a touchdown.
Following the Packers’ third trip to the end zone, Minnesota made some adjustments and their defense began to play like the normal, elite unit they have been under Mike Zimmer during the last few seasons.
Green Bay went from averaging nine yards per play on their first three offensive drives of the day to averaging just 3.3 yards per play for the remainder of the game.
Now, if the Vikings had just performed like they did during the final three quarters for the entire matchup, then they probably would have left the field with a win. Instead, Minnesota was playing from behind for most of the day and it likely resulted in some of their mistakes on the offensive side of the ball.