5 Minnesota Vikings on the hot seat at the 2020 midseason point
By Dean Jones
Rick Dennison – Offensive line coach
As stated previously, the Vikings have suffered some problems on their offensive line this season. Things have definitely improved following the bye, but this has coincided with the coaching staff finally playing to their strengths with the set of smashmouth football that Mike Zimmer has become renowned for.
Kirk Cousins has been sacked 16 times this season. This isn’t good enough by any stretch of the imagination and for all their faults talent-wise, some of the blame must also fall on offensive line coach Rick Dennison.
Nobody will know this more than Dennison himself. He has been with the organization for two years now and although he managed to get the sack total down from 40 in 2018 to 28 during the previous campaign, they have once again reverted to type this time around.
The Vikings will only go so far with poor protection. Dennison deserves credit for making slight improvements during the bye that are paying dividends on the field. But much more will be needed to avoid the coach falling onto the dreaded hot seat in the coming weeks.
Dennison is a vastly experienced coach that has enjoyed great success. However, that will count for nothing if precarious protection fails to deliver the goods down the stretch.