By Matthew Coller
OK Vikings, we get it, you can win ugly.
Next week, how about a reminder of how this thing used to look, alright?
Not that anyone should be complaining. The Minnesota Vikings are 3-0 with the Miami Dolphins coming to US Bank Stadium next week.
In the standings, you couldn’t have dreamed up a better opening to the year. Not only two NFC North wins but an NFC South victory that could mean something down the road when tie breakers with common opponents get involved.
They also have bludgeoned three of the best quarterbacks in the NFL now. Coming into the game, Baker Mayfield was struggling but they made him look like it was the first time he had ever played football. They beat him up with blow after blow on endless blitzes from linebackers Blake Cashman and Eric Wilson up the middle. He went 17-for-34 with six times sacked and a million more times hit.
The Bucs badly wanted to run the ball but the Vikings’ defense was having absolutely none of that either. Bucky Irving was stuffed repeatedly in the backfield and Tampa Bay couldn’t control the clock or use play-action.
If not for a single long touchdown, you would say that this was a complete masterpiece by the defense, somehow topping last week’s marvelous whooping of Caleb Williams.
Brian Flores is out here throwing 103 mph fastballs like we haven’t seen in Minnesota since 2017. This isn’t a normal good defense, it’s a special one.
But that doesn’t mean the Vikings can win with putrid offense all season long.
Kyler Murray’s first start opened pretty well. He got a field goal on the first drive and then went 6-for-8 with a deep touchdown pass to Jordan Addison.
However, when Justin Jefferson went out and the Vikings couldn’t run the ball, the offense completely fell apart. Murray was flustered in the pocket. He struggled to find open receivers and overthrew them when they were available. He finished just 15-for-29 and a fair amount of the successful plays ended up being swing passes to Aaron Jones.
It was wonky, disconnected and easily disrupted by the Bucs’ defense, which had gotten throttled by DeShaun Watson the previous week. There were almost no short passes to TJ Hockenson and Jauan Jennings to control the game and the downfield stuff proved difficult.
With Jordan Mason still out and Jefferson now banged up, the Vikings must find better answers than this if they are going to seriously contend.
The good news is that they get to figure it out on the fly with a 3-0 record.
Here’s how it went down…