The Minnesota Vikings might be 5-0, but there is always room for improvement. This team has plenty of room for growth as it comes out of the bye week.
3 Areas the Vikings Need to Improve Coming Out of the Bye Week
The Vikings defense has been the best in the league through five weeks, and the special teams unit hasn’t been far behind. There are still things in those two areas that can be tightened up for even more improvement, but let’s be real: the Vikings need major improvement on one side of the ball. The offense has to come out of the bye looking a lot better. There are reasons to be optimistic that this will happen and these are three key areas that will need to show improvement.
Scoring Touchdowns
The Vikings’ total of nine touchdowns was the third lowest across the league at the end of Week 5. Only the Miami Dolphins (7) and Tennessee Titans (6) had scored fewer. Of the Vikings’ nine touchdowns, five have come from a pass, three from a rush, and one from a punt return. Failing to finish drives has been an issue and two lost fumbles while in the red zone against the New Orleans Saints compounded the problem.
Minnesota has been fortunate enough to be able to rely on the perfect kicking of Will Reichard so far this season but they’ve got some tough games coming up against some strong offenses. Good defense and field goals might not be enough. The offense needs to step up and take some of the pressure off of the other two units. It’s time to start getting six points on the board more regularly. The second key area of improvement should help with this.
Get Healthy
Injuries are part of the game but so far this season the injury bug has hit some of the Vikings’ most key players. As can often seem to be the case, the area of the team that is struggling – the offense – gets all the big injuries. The good news is that only one of the injuries is currently terminal, with promising left guard Donovan Jackson out for the season with a torn meniscus in his knee. Kyler Murray and Justin Jefferson are both back on the field after missing decent portions of the first five games. Their growing connection will be vital to the offense’s success this season.
Coming out of the bye week the Vikings will hope to have a boost on the offensive line with a return of Christian Darrisaw following a concussion. They will also hope TJ Hockenson returns from the same issue, though fellow tight end, Josh Oliver is unlikely to return from a torn biceps before any potential playoff run. Jordan Addison also missed the last game with a hamstring injury, which hopefully was more precautionary than long-term. Finally, Jordan Mason should be far away after having surgery on a fractured thumb suffered in Week 1.
Start Fast on Offense
There has been a lot of heavy leaning on the defense so far this season, and they have been able to slowly build into games on offense. Oftentimes, Minnesota has put points on the board later in games. The slow starts from the offense aren’t new to this season and have been a running trend for a while and it needs improving.
Kevin O’Connell has all week to draw up a game plan for how his offense will start a game and we need to start seeing more points on the board in the first two drives of the game. That needs to start in Week 7 when the Vikings host the Indianapolis Colts at US Bank Stadium. An early lead and some momentum can change how the game proceeds.