Who is to blame for the Vikings’ loss to the Bears in Week 4?

Kevin Stefanski

With everything else going on with the team so far this season, some might have forgotten about the fact that Kevin Stefanski is in his first year as a play-caller for an NFL offense.

Four games in, Stefanski still has a lot of work to do.

His inexperience was especially glaring during the Vikings’ loss to the Bears on Sunday. Despite Chicago’s defense bringing a ton of pressure all game long, Stefanski failed to adjust his play-calls to make life easier for Minnesota’s offensive line and Kirk Cousins.

Instead, he just continued to call plays that had Cousins taking five-step drops which then made it easier for the Bears’ defense to engulf the Vikings quarterback.

For a team that talked a lot in the offseason about utilizing their play-action passing attack this year, it was almost non-existent on Sunday. Of Cousins’ 44 dropbacks against Chicago, only six of them utilized play-action.

Some may be saying that more play-action calls wouldn’t have made a difference because Minnesota’s run game was struggling against the Bears. But the Vikings’ were still staying committed to the run and the threat of Dalvin Cook breaking free is something that will always allow play-action passes to be effective.

Lastly, what was that two-point conversion play-call? Everyone in the stadium knew what Minnesota was doing and that was something Stefanski really thought was going to work best?

The Vikings took a risk by naming Stefanski their offensive coordinator this season despite him not having any play-calling experience. It still has a chance to work out, but so far Minnesota’s risk is not paying off.

Blame Percentage: 35 percent