6 biggest takeaways from the Vikings loss to the Eagles in Week 2

Kevin O’Connell deserves a lot of blame

So much of the discourse heading into Week 2 was around Kevin O’Connell and how he outsmarted the Green Bay coaching staff. There were even plenty of ideas floated out there that he was the real mastermind behind the Rams’ success last season. That quickly faded after his squad looked lost in the first half against the Eagles.

The offense only gained 93 yards in the first half while Kirk Cousins reverted back to his skittish ways. He did take one deep shot that was dropped by Irv Smith Jr., but Cousins was pretty conservative in the first half.

With the Eagles draining clock to end the half, O’Connell signaled for a timeout and injected life back into Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia offense. The Birds drove down the field and added a field goal to their lead, heading to the locker room up 24-7.

A boneheaded timeout call and subsequent passive defense down the stretch of that half was costly and a learning experience for the rookie head coach. That cannot happen as he gets his feet under him, especially after all of the criticism that Mike Zimmer endured for many of the same things.

Costly turnovers from Cousins kept this team from ever getting back into the ballgame. O’Connell has to do a better job of scheming Jefferson open or designing plays for other targets when things don’t work out for the third-year star.