Film review: How did the Vikings offense disappear again after the opening script?

Minnesota essentially went 42 minutes between scoring drives in the middle of the game

Sign up for Purple Insider for $7 per month or $64 per year to get credentialed access inside the Vikings, from in-depth analysis to behind-the-scenes features to the ever-popular Friday Mailbag. Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings.

---

By Sam Ekstrom

EAGAN/ZOOM — After starting the season as an apparent top five offensive unit, the Vikings have quickly dissolved into a middling offense marked by fleeting fast starts and slogging finishes.

Their performance in Baltimore was more of the same. If not for a critical drive late in the fourth quarter — for which they deserve credit — the Vikings were unconscionably staring at a sixth game out of eight where they didn’t produce an offensive touchdown after halftime.

For a stretch of 42 minutes of gametime on Sunday, spanning five drives (not including a single play before halftime), the Vikings could only produce a field goal that was not set up by the offense but by a Camryn Bynum interception.

Matthew Coller praised Klint Kubiak’s use of the game-opening script in our Week 2 film review, which has held up. The Vikings have scored points on the opening drive seven out of eight times. How could the offense succumb to such malaise on a weekly basis?

After a 16-point dud on Sunday Night Football against the Cowboys, it was reasonable to expect a more aggressive approach against the Ravens.

“I think we changed up quite a bit on the play-calling, especially early,” head coach Mike Zimmer said after the 34-31 loss.

Indeed, the play-calling was good on the first two drives, but again, that hasn’t been the problem. Opening scripts are often around 15 plays, and since the Vikings first drive went so quickly with Justin Jefferson’s 50-yard touchdown, Klint Kubiak seemed to have some plays left over for Drive No. 2, where the Vikings also scored.

Nitrogen Sports @NitrogenSports

Cousins threw a dime to Jefferson 😳 #MINvsBAL Justin Jefferson to score the first touchdown (+1000) 🤑

The Vikings kept their personnel unpredictable on the opening two drives, using six different personnel groupings in 12 plays. Kubiak threw in a nice wrinkle with an end-around to Jefferson, a creative run design out of “13” personnel to spring Dalvin Cook for 15 yards, a nicely-devised third down play to Jefferson and an extra linemen (Blake Brandel) in short yardage.

So why did it stagnate? Here’s what the film shows:

Difficulty with two wide receiver sets

The Vikings last season were one of the most effective teams in the NFL out of two-wide-receiver sets. Thanks to rookie Justin Jefferson’s instant impact and Adam Thielen’s presence in the red zone, Sharp Football logged the Vikings’ success rate out of “21” personnel (two RBs, one TE, two WRs) as No. 1 in the NFL among teams that used that formation over 30 times. They were also fourth in success rate out of “12” personnel, (one RB, two TEs, two WRs).

In 2021, that success has come to a sudden halt. The Vikings are third-lowest in success rate for both “12” and “21” personnel looks, which is stunning when one considers that Thielen and Jefferson are the primary receiving targets.

The struggles returned against Baltimore, where charting of each snap shows the Vikings ran 14 plays out of either “12” or “21.” They were only able to generate 54 yards on 14 plays, and 24 of those yards came on one Cook run. With that run, their per play average was only 3.9 yards, and without the run it drops to 2.3.