There’s still plenty for Minnesota to clean up
As exciting as Sunday’s win over the Packers was for the Vikings in their first game with Kevin O’Connell as their head coach, they still have plenty of things to fix before their Week 2 matchup against the Philadephia Eagles next Monday.
Things could have gone much differently for Minnesota on Sunday if Green Bay wide receiver Christian Watson doesn’t let an easy touchdown pass slip right through his hands early in the first quarter.
Watson blew right past Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson on the play, and against the Eagles next Monday, Minnesota cannot let something like this happen, especially since Philadelphia’s receivers are much more reliable than Green Bay’s young pass-catchers.
Unfortunately, stopping the run still seems to be an issue for the Vikings this season. The Packers averaged 6.2 yards per carry on Sunday on their way to 111 yards on the ground. Luckily for Minnesota, their offense did such a great job at creating a large lead, that Green Bay couldn’t afford to run the ball as much as they probably wanted to.
A large lead against Philadelphia isn’t going to be a guarantee for the Vikings, so they need to make sure they can come up with better approaches to stopping the run before next Monday when they take on one of the best running quarterbacks in the league in Jalen Hurts.
Minnesota did a lot of good things on Sunday, but they would also be the first to admit that they still have plenty to fix between now and the next game on their schedule.