Analysis: Hey, Vikings, where’s the beef in the run game?

Gather round boys and girls for a physics lesson from a guy who wasn’t exactly honor roll material in math and science but can sense that something isn’t right with the short-yardage game the Vikings sold us on this past offseason.

Fed up with being unable to impose their will when necessary, the Vikings spent the offseason beefing up. They signed a giant right guard, Will Fries, giving him $88 million. They signed a bigger-than-usual center, Ryan Kelly. They drafted a tackle-sized left guard, Donovan Jackson, in the first round.

And they also traded for a fresh- and powerfully-legged 230-pound running back, Jordan Mason.

All wonderful moves.

But …

Two weeks into the season, even this math-and-science-challenged NFL observer often begs to know the following:

“Where’s the beefy back?”

The question was posed to Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips on Tuesday. It would have been posed to head coach and play caller Kevin O’Connell on Monday, but he dropped the J.J. McCarthy-won’t-play-this-week bombshell at the top of his news conference, making it awfully difficult to wedge an off-topic question into the QB whisperer’s sea of loquaciousness.

It was above Phillips’ pay grade to answer, but he gave it a shot.

“We had a third-and-2 where he ran the football,” said Phillips, referring to Sunday’s 22-6 loss to the Falcons at U.S. Bank Stadium. “We had some short-yardage plays where he was in the game and didn’t get a lot of opportunities down close to the goal line.”

He noted Mason was on the field before the delay of game the Vikings had on second-and-goal from the 2, adding, “He’s been in there for a lot of these short-yardage type opportunities.”

Some? Yes. A lot? Sorry, Wes, but no.

But here’s a look at how the two teams that played in Minneapolis on Sunday have used their 230-pound running backs – Mason for the Purple and Tyler Allgeier for the Falcons — in short-yardage situations in their first two games.

The Vikings have run 15 plays that needed fewer than 3 yards. Mason has had four touches (26.7%), three between the tackles (20%).

The Falcons, meanwhile, have run 14 plays that needed fewer than 3 yards. Allgeier has had seven touches (50%), six between the tackles (42.9%).

When running between the tackles, Mason has converted 2 of 3 opportunities (66.7%). Everyone else is 3 of 12 (25%) with McCarthy going 0-for-5 passing with two sacks when attempting to throw.

As for Allgeier, he has converted 4 of 6 short-yardage runs between the tackles (66.7%). Everyone else is 4 of 8.

In Week 2, Mason again wasn’t on the field in some short-yardage plays, including the fourth-and-1 when McCarthy was stuffed for no gain as the Vikings opened the game by turning the ball over on downs at their 36-yard line. Mason did go on to gain 3 yards on second-and-2, 2 yards on third-and-1 and 0 yards on third-and-1. He also lost a yard on an outside run to the left on second-and-1.

Allgeier? Well, all he did between the tackles on Sunday was gain 10 yards on third-and-1, 3 yards on third-and-2 and 4 yards on third-and-1. He also was stopped short on a third-and-2 and a third-and-1.

This is not to say Mason or Allgeier or anyone should touch the ball every time their offenses need fewer than 3 yards. But, in the Vikings’ case, some of us are spending too many of these plays looking at this brand-new Mount St. Purple interior offensive line on the field, the 230-pound running back not on the field and asking, hey K.O. …

“Where’s the beefy back?