Vikings Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kevin Williams watched film of Sunday's 26-7 loss to Carolina and by his count, he said the defense missed 15 tackles, many of those coming in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers took advantage of poor tackling by the Vikings to score 20 points and roll up 211 total yards in the fourth quarter alone.
"A lot of it was poor tackling," Williams said. "We had almost 80 plays for the defense. Could have been tired. I don't know what it was, but they ran through a few tackles and made some extra yards and big plays."
The defense was on the field a long time Sunday because the offense went 1-for-10 on third down while Carolina was 8-for-17. That might have contributed to the sloopy tackling. Even Pro Bowl cornerback Antoine Winfield missed a few, which was uncharacteristic for him.
"I think they're easy fixes," Williams said. "You just hold onto the guy and bring him to the ground. That will solve a lot."
The Vikings had tackling problems the first half of the season but had cleaned up a lot of the missed tackles since their bye week. But it was a problem again Sunday.
"The catch-and-run is an issue," Coach Brad Childress said. "It had gotten better but it kind of reared its ugly head here late. There's a couple of reasons. We always talk about 'No excuses, none necessary.' When you let somebody stay on the field 80 plays that can go back to offense not staying on the field. There's a part where you get worn down and we've experienced it the other way around."
