4 takeaways from the Vikings loss to the Packers in Week 16

Stefanski called his worst game of the season

In his first season as a full-time offensive play-caller in the NFL, Kevin Stefanski had done a pretty good job with getting the most out of the Vikings’ offense leading up to Monday’s game.

However, Minnesota’s loss to the Packers this week was by far Stefanski’s worst job as a play-caller this year. The Vikings’ offense was terrible on Monday and a lot of it had to do with the plays they were running.

For some reason, a bunch of the plays that had worked well for Minnesota in previous weeks were not utilized against Green Bay. The Packers’ pass-rush was destroying the Vikings’ offensive line all night long and Stefanski opted to hardly call any screen passes, bootlegs, or passes up the middle to his tight ends to help in reducing the pressure.

Yes, Minnesota didn’t have Dalvin Cook in the lineup on Monday and it clearly had a tremendous impact on the offense’s ability to do much of anything. But apparently Stefanski was so thrown off by Cook’s absence that he forgot the Vikings’ offense also featured plenty of other playmakers including Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs, Irv Smith Jr., and Kyle Rudolph.

Stefanski may get some interviews to be a head coach during the upcoming offseason, but he will probably want to avoid putting this game on his resume.