Vikings cornerbacks find no quarter

The Vikings plan their roster and manage their salary cap on three-year cycles. They knew they were reaching a critical point in the life of their defense — what General Manager Rick Spielman has termed "an evolution of the roster" — this spring, when it became clear they would need to reinvigorate the group with young players who could also provide cap relief on rookie contracts.

The NFL calendar required the Vikings to commit to their course for 2020 at the start of the league year in March, long before they knew with certainty the coronavirus pandemic would wipe out their offseason program, condense training camp and eliminate the preseason.

Their initial outing, with a group of corners that had collectively played 44 NFL games before Sunday, came against Aaron Rodgers, who received the additional benefit of facing a tranquil road environment with no fans in U.S. Bank Stadium.

Those factors all lend perspective to a ghastly debut for the new-look Vikings defense in a 43-34 loss to the Packers, and the progress of the team's young corners will have to be measured over the course of the season.

The NFL does not use public perception to determine its playoff field, though, nor does it grade on a curve. And with a series of accomplished quarterbacks on the Vikings' schedule to start the season, Sunday's debut against Rodgers served as a reminder of just how difficult it will be for the Vikings to build a reliable cornerback group on the fly.

"You just stick with it," coach Mike Zimmer said. "You just kind of keep going and harp on them to do their best and iron out the little mistakes that they did make. Again, it gets back to technique a lot of times and then alignments, making sure you're in the proper alignment and the proper hand placement. But it's good to find out where we were and where we have to go from there."

Rodgers had his best day in Minneapolis since before Zimmer became the Vikings coach, becoming just the fifth quarterback to throw for more than 350 yards against a Zimmer-led Vikings defense. He tested the Vikings deep with Marquez Valdes-Scantling on three occasions (connecting on two of them, with the speedster dropping the third while being wide open deep). Rodgers helped Davante Adams tie Don Hutson's 78-year-old franchise record with 14 catches Sunday.

"He got the ball out a lot," Zimmer said. "Most of the time the ball was out in 2½ seconds. They quick-counted us one time on third down, caught us in a couple man-coverage things where they read pick routes."

The Packers schemed a few screens and quick throws for Adams, but he caught six passes with Holton Hill covering him, as well as another three against rookie Cameron Dantzler and three against Mike Hughes.

Rodgers' last two connections to Adams were the ones that broke the game open. The Pro Bowler froze Hill with a step at the line of scrimmage before breaking outside for a 1-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, then used a step to get a free release off the line before beating Hill down the right sideline for a 40-yard pickup in the fourth.

"I try to treat everybody the same, and just dictate the game — go out and play fast and physical," Adams said. "Obviously, having some less experienced people out there guarding me, I know certain guys are susceptible to different things, because they haven't seen me as much. So I try to use that to my advantage."

On Rodgers' touchdown to Valdes-Scantling before halftime, Dantzler said he felt "like I was there. He just made a perfect throw and the guy made a perfect catch."

"I think, again, it's a learning experience," he said. "There's 25 seconds left in the half, and he's trying to play bump-and-run on the wide receiver instead of understanding the situation there. Other than that, I thought [Dantzler] did a pretty good job. He missed a tackle early in the ballgame that ended up being about 7 yards. He contested a catch by Adams early in the ballgame that he was all over; just didn't get the ball out. He had some good moments in there — it just gets overshadowed by the long one right before the half."

The Vikings are on the road for three of their next four, against veteran quarterback Philip Rivers this Sunday before road games against Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson in Weeks 4 and 5.

The schedule gives the group few options but to pull itself together quickly.