5 moves that got the Minnesota Vikings to 8-3 at the bye

Adapting the offense to better fit Cousins

During the early part of the 2019 season, the Vikings’ offense was extremely onesided. Minnesota offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski wanted to run the ball and boy did he ever.

In the first game of the year against the Atlanta Falcons, the Vikings only passed the ball 10 times. It didn’t matter because it worked and Minnesota got the victory.

During the next few weeks, the Vikings used a run-heavy offense and it had mixed results. Minnesota was just 2-2 after four games and Stefanski wisely made some changes. Not only did he call for the offense to pass the ball more, but he also called passing plays that were much more suited for Kirk Cousins‘ strengths.

Stefanski began to utilize Cousins on rollouts as getting him out in space is a very good thing. The guy is uncannily accurate when he rolls out and he was hitting his open receivers all over the field during these specific play-calls.

Stefanski also became much more aggressive and began calling more plays that had Cousins taking shots down the field. The Vikings quarterback throws a nice deep ball and he has been able to find Stefon Diggs for some huge gains that have opened up games for the Purple.

Stefanski also began utilizing the screen game much more and that is a huge strength for Minnesota’s athletic offensive line and their dynamic running back, Dalvin Cook.

It isn’t always easy for an NFL coach to admit when he’s wrong and make adjustments during a season. But Stefanski did just that after the first quarter of the season and the Vikings are a much better offense and team because of it.