3 things the Vikings need to improve heading into Week 10
By Nik Edlund
Special Teams
The Vikings’ special teams had issues on all phases against the Chiefs and Dan Bailey wasn’t the only culprit. Even though he wasn’t the only one to blame on this unit, Bailey did have an inexcusable missed extra point that proved to be costly later in the game.
It’s too bad because Bailey had been on a roll. He was clutch in Minnesota’s Week 8 win over the Washington Redskins and many Vikings fans began to start feeling not just comfortable when he lined up for a field goal, but confident too.
However, he shattered that trust with the missed extra point in Kansas City. Bailey will have his good games, but as long as he’s the Vikings’ kicker, the only sure thing is that he can’t be trusted to hit clutch field goals and even extra points on a week-to-week basis.
There must’ve been something in the air down in Kansas City that messed with the Vikings kickers. The always reliable Britton Colquitt, who has been great for Minnesota this season, had a horrible shank in the fourth quarter.
Not only was it embarrassingly short, but it also came at the most inopportune time for the Vikings. The game was tied, with just under two minutes to go and Colquitt’s terrible punt of about 25 yards had the Chiefs in field goal range before they even snapped the football once.
This one can be chalked up to just a fluke thing, but Colquitt will be looking to boot the ball extra hard this week in Dallas, to put this shank behind him and out of the minds of Vikings fans.
It wasn’t just the kickers that had issues on Minnesota’s special teams. Mike Hughes muffed a punt that would’ve been very costly if Kansas City recovered it. Luckily, the Vikings were on the ball before the Chiefs were able to grab it.
With Marcus Sherels recently signing with the Miami Dolphins, Minnesota won’t be able to go back to their old reliable returner if Hughes continues to struggle.
The Vikings will have to get better in all aspects of their special teams this Sunday against the Cowboys or they will find themselves looking at a two-game losing streak.