The Minnesota Vikings struggled mightily on Sunday night by losing to their NFC North rival Green Bay Packers by a score of 33-10.
It wasn’t just the score that was bad for the Vikings, the performances across the team were brutal.
The coaching was bad.
The offense was bad.
The defense was bad.
Special teams was relatively fine, especially the punt coverage.
When you have to go to the punt coverage unit to find a unit that played relative well, that’s not a good sign. With the loss, the Vikings no longer control their own destiny with the playoffs.
The studs and duds are not very positive on Sunday night and it’s stark at how poor things were.
Dud: QB Jaren Hall
It was an absolutely brutal night for Hall. He finished the game with paltry numbers of 5-of-10 passing for 67 yards and an interception. Hall was also strip-sacked that saw the Vikings give up a touchdown to the Packers with just eight seconds left before halftime. Kevin O’Connell replaced him with Nick Mullens after halftime.
Is this all on Hall? No, but he still played poorly. The all-22 will provide the answers on how the offensive line played along with the playcalling and receivers getting open.
Dud: LT Christian Darrisaw
The Vikings did not play well at all on Sunday and it started up front. Darrisaw might have had the worst game of his short career. Whether it was in the running game or pass blocking, Darrisaw struggled mightily, including Preston Smith destroying him on multiple reps with the strip-sack being one of them. After a really promising first two and a half seasons, Darrisaw has struggled quite a bit over the last half of the season. Will those struggles continue into 2024? Only time will tell.
Dud: Head coach Kevin O'Connell
Make no mistake about it, the entire Vikings team struggled on Sunday. However, it’s not just on the players. The Vikings head coach didn’t have the team ready to play and it was evident form the start. The offense and defense were disjointed and a mess from start to finish. There are questions starting to creep in about O’Connell and his ability to have the Vikings ready for big games. This isn’t the first time they had something serious to play for and they didn’t show up.
Dud: Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores
The defense struggled mightily again and has now allowed 90 total points in their last three games. That’s completely inexcusable for a unit that was dominant at times this season once they got into a flow, including a 3-0 shutout of the Las Vegas Raiders that was the precursor of the brutal three-game stretch.
The biggest issue with Flores is the lack of adjustments. They continue to live in Cover-2 and Tampa-2 and are getting beaten with the same concepts. Why aren’t they adjusting post-snap to confuse the offense and make plays? A very frustrating stretch from Flores’ unit.
Dud: Pass rush
The loss of D.J. Wonnum made a bigger impact on the team than we thought it might initially. The Vikings couldn’t generate any pressure on Jordan Love, as they hit him just three times and failed to sack him on 33 dropbacks. With how the Vikings play defense, that’s not a recipe for success. It boils down to both talent which the Vikings don’t have a ton of on the defensive line and scheme which has faltered as of late.
Stud: CB NaJee Thompson
There wasn’t a lot of good for the Vikings on Sunday night but the one real bright spot came on special teams with their rookie special teams ace Thompson. He was zooming down the field to attack the punt returner and his effort both got a stop immediately on a late fair catch and recovered a fumble that setup the only Vikings touchdown.
