3 biggest overreactions to the Vikings loss to the Bengals in Week 1

Minnesota is undisciplined

When the Vikings went into the locker room at the half on Sunday, they had already been flagged for a total of 13 penalties. Nine of these penalties were accepted in the first half and these calls had a tremendous impact on Minnesota suffering a loss to Cincinnati in Week 1.

At the end of Sunday’s game, the Vikings had accumulated 12 accepted penalties that cost them 116 yards. Any team in the NFL that draws a double-digit amount of flags in a matchup is going to have a difficult time coming away with a win, and Minnesota found this out in Week 1.

Some might blame the Vikings drawing a high amount of penalties on Sunday to a lack of discipline instilled by head coach Mike Zimmer. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Minnesota has never been known as a highly penalized team with Zimmer as their head coach. What happened in Cincinnati could have just been a result of rust and the re-introduction of stadiums being allowed to fill their seats to capacity (at least for the false start penalties).

If the Vikings finish next week’s matchup with double-digit penalties, then fine, go ahead and worry about it being a legitimate problem. But for a team that was penalized around five times per game last season with a roster featuring a lot more inexperience than what Minnesota had on the field on Sunday, this isn’t something that should become the norm for them in 2021.