7 biggest takeaways from the Vikings stunning win over the Panthers

Maalouf’s time is nearing the end in Minnesota

Special teams have been a bit of an Achilles heel for Mike Zimmer during his tenure as the Vikings head coach. Most of these problems have been due to the kicking game in the past, but it’s been something different this season.

For some reason, Minnesota is having a lot of trouble this year when it comes to punts and kickoffs. Not only have the Vikings struggled to return punts and kicks well this season, but their coverage units have also performed poorly more often than not.

The problems continued on Sunday when Chad Beebe muffed a punt that should’ve resulted in Minnesota losing to the Panthers. Luckily, the Vikings were able to squeak out the win, but Beebe’s mistake was just another to add to a long list of special teams errors made by Minnesota this season.

When a unit continues to struggle as much as the Vikings special teams has this year, the fingers typically get pointed to the guy in charge and that would be Marwan Maalouf. While Minnesota’s kicking problems seem to be behind them this season, the team’s struggles in the return game are affecting the outcomes of the Vikings’ matchups.

Unless Minnesota can get things under control, it wouldn’t be surprising if they decided to move on from Maalouf in 2021.