Legendary former Minnesota Vikings pass rusher Jared Allen knows what it takes to have a successful defense at the NFL level, as he was a member of multiple elite defensive units during his time with the franchise.
So, it shouldn't be surprising to hear what Allen had to say during an appearance on the "Up & Adams" show on Monday about the Vikings' disaster of a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers last week.
"The biggest thing I saw was a lack of tackling and guys not using hands properly, up front, and catching blocks. And for me, if you can't stop the run, it's simple, right? You have to stop the run [and] put guys behind the chains.
And on the offensive side, you've got to run the ball and you've got to put the defense behind the chains, so to speak, by [having] positive first and second down [results].
Jared Allen is spot-on about what the Minnesota Vikings need to improve
Allen is definitely right about Minnesota struggling with tackling and stopping the run this year. In the loss to the Chargers, the Vikings had nine missed tackles and gave up 207 rushing yards to a Los Angeles backfield that consisted of Kimani Vidal (a former sixth-round pick) and Jaret Patterson (undrafted in 2021).
In their four losses this season, Minnesota has averaged 10.3 missed tackles while allowing 150.3 rushing yards per game. In the Vikings' three wins, those averages are notably lower at 8.3 missed tackles and 104 rushing yards allowed per contest.
However, even the averages from Minnesota's wins this season are significantly higher than they were in 2024. Last season, the Vikings only gave up 93.4 rushing yards per game and had a missed-tackle average of just 4.6 per matchup.
When teams talk about working on fundamentals and fixing the little things, tackling is typically included in this conversation.
So it's not like Minnesota has to go back and come up with a completely different approach on defense for the rest of the season. At the very least, the Vikings just need to make sure they're taking care of the basics by tackling well and placing more of an emphasis on stopping the opposing team's rushing attack.
Against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 7, it looked like Minnesota had fixed some of these defensive problems that had plagued them before their bye in Week 6. But then those issues became a problem, once again, in the Vikings' loss to the Chargers last Thursday, and Minnesota's defense is essentially just back to square one with figuring out how to stop the bleeding.