6 biggest takeaways from the Vikings loss to the Bucs in Week 1

Vikings Takeaway No. 4

Minnesota's run game is not good

Coming into this game, one of the biggest questions was how the rushing attack of the Minnesota Vikings would look without Dalvin Cook being the team's primary running back. The answer is: Not good.

Minnesota only ran the ball 17 times, but when they did, it wasn't very effective. Alexander Mattison got 11 of those carries but only gained 34 yards while not having a single run of ten yards or more on the day.

Ty Chandler was the only other running back to get rushing attempts, carrying the ball three times for a total of zero yards. The final three attempts were Kirk Cousins trying to make something out of nothing when he was under pressure.

2.4 yards per carry is ugly but the Vikings are truly a team that thrives off their passing attack. Sadly, the threat of a handoff on play action isn't going to scare many defenses and the Vikings will likely only run enough to try to keep opposing teams honest defensively.