Five extra points: Stat sheet should give Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell a turnover, too

The stat sheet says the Vikings turned the ball over three times in Sunday’s 23-6 loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field. The stat sheet is wrong. They turned it over four times if you count — and you should — the turnover on downs early in the second quarter in the team’s only trip into the red zone.

Trailing 7-3, the Vikings marched 69 yards in 12 plays, with Jordan Mason carrying the ball five straight times for 43 yards and Aaron Jones Sr. carrying it once for 5 yards. Then Kevin O’Connell made his worst call of the day. He got cute with a team that was more physical than his squad. He went with a QB sneak using tight end T.J. Hockenson under center on third-and-1 from the Packers’ 17.

Hockenson has played 92 games over seven seasons. He had carried the ball once, back in 2020, for no gain. He was stopped for no gain, putting too much pressure and predictability on a fourth-down dive by Mason, which also was stuffed. So it’s four turnovers in my book. And you can assign that fourth turnover to the head coach. And that’s not good when the defense goes a third straight game and sixth overall without a takeaway.

Micah Parsons (May 26) and Christian Darrisaw (June 2) are 26-year-olds born a week apart in 1999. That’s not good news for the Vikings going forward, considering what Parsons, one of the league’s highest-paid defenders, did to Darrisaw, one of the league’s highest-paid left tackles, in the edge rusher’s debut in the Vikings-Packers rivalry.

On back-to-back critical possessions in the third quarter, Parsons burned Darrisaw like he was a backup. One play after the Packers took a 17-6 lead, Parsons beat Darrisaw with an inside move for a sack. The Vikings went three-and-out. Seven minutes later, on second-and-11, Parsons beat Darrisaw with an outside move for a sack. The Vikings again went three-and-out. On the Vikings’ next possession, Darrisaw false-started on second-and-12. And, yep, the Vikings went three-and-out again.

Darrisaw, who left in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, declined comment after the game. There wasn’t anything he could have said anyway about the menace he could be facing twice a year for the next five or so seasons.

Asked to pick my Vikings quarter-century team (to be revealed next month), I snubbed Ryan Longwell as the kicker. Sorry, Ryan, but this Will Reichard kid is the best I’ve seen. He made another two 50-yarders without a miss, making him 16 for 21 in 24 games as a Viking. Longwell made 11 of 17 in 96 games over six years. This year, Reichard has tied the record for longest field goal at Soldier Field (59), set the Vikings record for longest field goal (62) and on Sunday kicked a 59-yarder at Lambeau.

Reichard said his pregame work told him his range going in that direction was 55 yards. “But,” he said, “I figured I could wiggle out a few more yards.”

A miss would have given the Packers the ball at the Vikings 49 with enough time to try a long field goal of their own. O’Connell didn’t hesitate because, well, his most effective player right now is his kicker. (P.S. The kid with the big leg is also 57 of 57 on PATs in his NFL career.)

It seems like forever ago that the Vikings went into Ford Field and punched the division bullies from Detroit in the nose during a stunning upset. Yet the team that was more physical than the Lions in Week 9 was overpowered throughout Week 12 by Packers running back Emanuel Wilson, an undrafted third-year pro from Fort Valley State.

“I got to spend some time with him here his rookie year,” Jones said. “And what you saw today, he’s been doing when he’s gotten opportunities from his first preseason game to now.”

Wilson’s fourth of 30 carries in place of the injured Josh Jacobs came on first-and-goal from the 1. Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman filled his gap perfectly and was in position to make the stop. And he got run over by Wilson, who had two touchdowns and seven first downs. He converted two third-and-1s and three first-and-10s with runs of 11, 12 and 11 yards.

“That’s a great question,” he said. “That’s something for the play-callers to really answer.”

Jefferson went from the 33-second mark of the first half, when the Vikings trailed 10-3, to the 5:46 mark of the fourth quarter, when the Vikings were down 23-6, without seeing a catchable ball thrown to him.

How does that happen? McCarthy is raw, yes, but can’t the kid throw a bubble screen or a slant pass every now and then to keep the best player on the team involved on a day when the offense posted 4 net yards and two first downs in the second half?