Vikings takeaway No. 5
The Vikings were sloppy, yet disciplined.
As stated earlier, the Minnesota Vikings fumbled three times on Sunday and missed some key tackles. Mistakes like those can be overcome but when you make too many of them, it can become extremely hard to battle back from.
For the mistakes that Minnesota made, they also played a nearly perfect game when it came to penalties. The Vikings only had one flag accepted against them and that one infraction only cost them four yards.
Atlanta was not nearly as disciplined. They were penalized eight times for a total of 62 yards. While neither of those numbers are significant, football is a game of inches where even one yard can make a world of difference.
Ball security needs to be a priority for the Minnesota Vikings but the team also needs to be praised for their disciplined play. Coach Kevin O'Connell had this team in the right mindset to execute the game plan and adjusted well to the developments as the game went on.