In another of what is set to just be the kind of games the Minnesota Vikings play this season, the defense carried an inconsistent offense in a 16-10 win over the reeling Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
For the fourth time in six games this season, the Vikings did not get to 280 yards of offense. The passing game remained disjointed and inconsistent, and the run game results were inflated by a 35-yard scamper by quarterback Kyler Murray.
Before now, the offense's struggles could be blamed on not having all the key pieces on the field at the same time for a full game. But that excuse was gone against the Colts, other than in-game exits by Jordan Addison and Aaron Jones, and yet still here we are wondering what's wrong and when it will get better.
There were some near-miss plays against the Colts, and some ill-timed penalties happened. But a vulnerable Colts' defense should've been easier to have success against.
Kevin O'Connell and Kyler Murray still think the Vikings' offense will be ok
After the game, Murray said something that makes you wonder if he is watching the same offense the rest of us are.
"I felt like we moved the ball today. [I know] nobody wants to hear that. We gotta put the ball in the end zone, but we did some good things. We’ll get better.”
At some point, Murray's "we'll get better" sentiment has to show in the results on a consistent basis, and against defenses that aren't the Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints. It's become a punchline from him in post-game pressers, which he more or less acknowledged.
As the other face of what the Vikings' offense does or doesn't do, head coach Kevin O'Connell had plenty to say about what happened Sunday.
"There were nine explosives on offense, but we left a lot out there,” O’Connell said. “I think our guys are very confident that we’re not far off. And the ‘far off’ changes a little bit as you go. But I’m very confident we’ll get it going. I would’ve liked to run it a little bit better than we did.”
On the idea of the offense not being "far off", O'Connell was asked what he thinks the "last step there" is.
"[We had a pass] off the fingertips to Jauan [Jennings] on one play,” O’Connell said. "Obviously late there. Some penalties. Just some inefficient runs....Whether it’s pass game or run game, when we stack positive plays, we move the football. We got ourselves into some third-and-longers."
O'Connell then offered up some of his usual language salad, using a lot of words to say absolutely nothing anyone listening should think of as meaningful, before finishing his soliloquy about how close the offense is.
"You can’t get down on it right now, just because it’s still relatively early enough that we’re catching our stride. But at the same time, we know, with the type of teams that are gonna be on our schedule the rest of the way and where we want to go with this team, we’ll keep progressing.”
There is still some allowable leeway, since there has been one full game in the first six where the Vikings have had all the pieces of the offense they expected to have. But at some point, there has to proof in the word pudding and the mistakes/near-misses in execution have to be reduced.
With an upcoming schedule that includes road trips to Detroit and Green Bay, as well as primetime games against the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers, the Vikings' offense needs to get its kinks worked out in quick fashion.
If not, a 6-0 start could dissolve into something closely resembling a .500 record by Thanksgiving.
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