10 quick thoughts on the Vikings win over the Packers in Week 1

Even more quick thoughts from Minnesota’s win over Green Bay

Cousins looks unbelievably efficient: Kirk Cousins was already a very accurate quarterback before Kevin O’Connell became the Vikings head coach this year. But in O’Connell’s offense, it seems like Cousins is using his accuracy in a more efficient way.

The Minnesota quarterback completed 71.9 percent of his passes, he averaged 8.7 yards per pass attempt on Sunday, and the majority of his targets went to his wide receivers.

It resulted in him throwing for 277 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Packers. If Cousins can play like this consistently for the rest of the season, he could be in for a career year.

New defense has a good debut: Despite Mike Zimmer being the team’s head coach, the Vikings’ defense was one of the team’s biggest problems of the last two seasons.

This year, Minnesota switched to a new scheme under new defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, and after Week 1, things appear to be heading in the right direction.

The Vikings pressured Aaron Rodgers all day long and they completely shut down Green Bay’s passing attack. Minnesota’s offense will get a lot of love on Monday, but the defense deserves plenty of praise as well.

O’Connell is undefeated: Kevin O’Connell probably couldn’t have imagined his first regular-season game as the head coach of the Vikings going much better than it went on Sunday.

From the opening kickoff, Minnesota seemed extremely prepared for their big divisional matchup with the Packers, and that is a credit to O’Connell and the rest of his coaching staff.

Yes, it’s only one game, but it’s hard for Vikings fans not to be excited about the team’s future after their big win over Green Bay on Sunday.

Week 2 expects to be a big test: While defeating last season’s No. 1 seed in the NFC this weekend was exciting, the Vikings getting a win next week might end up being even more impressive.

In Week 2, Minnesota has a Monday-night road matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles are expected to be one of the best teams in the NFC this season, and they’re coming off a road victory over the up-and-coming Detroit Lions.

If the Vikings can leave the field next Monday with a 2-0 record, many people will likely take them a lot more seriously as a contender this season.