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The Vikings’ 27-19 loss to the Ravens on Sunday can be described in a lot of ways, but many of them point back to this one: frustrating.
On the broadcast, the looks said it all: Multiple sideline shots of annoyed head coach Kevin O’Connell; mounting boos heard from fans; QB J.J. McCarthy dejectedly returning to the sideline after Myles Price lost a key fumble on a second-half kickoff; Justin Jefferson watching passes sail too high or wide; Adam Thielen arguing desperately and passionately about a penalty.
The Vikings could have lost to the talented and desperate Ravens in any number of ways, but the route they chose in an important game left plenty to unpack.
Patrick Reusse and I talked plenty about the outcome on Monday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
At the outset of today’s 10 things to know, I’ll look at who the fingers might be pointed at when it comes to that frustration.
- Kevin O’Connell: My guess is that O’Connell is most frustrated with his entire offense rather than one specific player. He talks frequently of cleaning up self-inflicted errors and staying on schedule offensively, so watching his team commit eight false start penalties and losing the turnover battle 3-0 has to be particularly galling. He might be most frustrated with his quarterback if McCarthy was a little older.
- J.J. McCarthy: Because he’s a quarterback whose intangible qualities are outpacing his production right now, McCarthy is publicly most frustrated with himself. In his news conference after Sunday’s game, he said he was particularly upset about all the passes batted down at the line of scrimmage and that he takes “full responsibility” for the false start penalties. But he also said this about those procedure penalties when asked if he needed to go away from hard counts in light of those procedure penalties: “It’s just a level of focus. It’s as simple as remember the snap count and execute it when it’s snapped.” He should be frustrated by his teammates underperformance and from being put in some tough spots by his head coach.
- Justin Jefferson: He should be evenly split between being frustrated with himself and McCarthy. Jefferson got his feet tangled up on an unfortunate interception at the start of the third quarter. He dropped a catchable potential touchdown pass. McCarthy also missed him with inaccurate throws, which added up to just four catches despite 12 targets.
- Brian Flores: He got a lot out of his players on Sunday. But maybe is frustrated with the Vikings front office and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah after watching Kyle Hamilton — the safety the Vikings could have taken in 2022 before moving down and taking Lewis Cine — dominate again for Baltimore.
- Vikings fans: My sense postgame is that they are directing almost all of their frustration toward O’Connell. When a team is sloppy, it can be interpreted as a reflection of coaching. Specifically, throwing deep to Jefferson on third-and-a-foot (yes, a foot) from midfield to open the third quarter was galling to many. Sure, it was defensible in the context of giving Jefferson a chance to make a big play in single coverage with the opportunity to try again on fourth down. It can be viewed as unlucky that the worst possible outcome (an interception) happened. But O’Connell’s play calling, at its worst, tends to chase home runs when singles will suffice. Just get a first down, keep the drive going and let your offense settle in with a good run-pass mix. All that said: O’Connell is a good coach who didn’t have his best day. He is low down on the list of their long-term questions.
- A reader reminded me of a crazy stat: The previous seven times the Vikings have faced the Ravens have followed a pattern. When the Vikings won (1998 season, 2009, 2017) they went on to the NFC title game. In seasons when they lost (2001 season, 2005, 2013 and 2021) the Vikings fired a head coach (Dennis Green, Mike Tice, Leslie Frazier and Mike Zimmer). The Vikings of course lost Sunday, but this year figures to be the streak-breaker because KOC isn’t going anywhere.
- None of this is helped by the fact that Sam Darnold continues to play like an MVP in Seattle.
- The Wolves are great against terrible teams and bad against good teams so far this season. That trend continued with a blowout win over Sacramento on Sunday.
- Jesper Wallstedt had a 36-save shutout for the Wild. It will be interesting to see who gets the nod in goal against the Sharks on Tuesday.
- The Loons resume their playoff march two weeks from now in San Diego.
