Are the Vikings built for a bounce back?
EAGAN — It’s true that everyone gets smacked in the mouth sometimes, even Super Bowl champions. Nobody knows that better than Kevin O’Connell, whose Los Angeles Rams got hit by a 49ers shaped wrecking ball on November 15, 2021. They lost 31-10 and then went on to win nine of their final 11, including the Super Bowl.
But you know who else suffered a crushing beatdown and did not recover? Lots of teams. The 2021 Cardinals, for example, fell to 8-2 with a 34-10 loss to the Panthers and then dropped five of their last eight, ending with a no-show in the first round of the playoffs.
Who ya gonna be, Vikings?
There isn’t much precedent in the new era to give us an indication about how the Vikings will bounce back from a rough loss. The only other game this year that they walked away feeling battered was versus the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2 when they lost 24-7 on Monday Night Football. Kirk Cousins said that he appreciated the way head coach Kevin O’Connell managed the aftermath of that defeat.
“I was impressed coming out of the Eagles game,” Cousins said on Tuesday. “First of all, the way he handled it in the locker room, he, unfairly to us, put it all on himself, which I didn’t think was fair. But, the way we played post-that game, would say a lot about the way he handled it, and the way the staff handled it, and the way we as a group, a unit, handled it. We’ve got that same challenge now and it’s all out ahead of us. There’s nothing we can do right now except, we got to work, and then prove that we can go forward in the way we play in the games up ahead.”
The Vikings did go on a winning streak after that game but the immediate follow-up wasn’t exactly the club coming out with their hair on fire. They trailed by 10 points to the Detroit Lions in the fourth quarter before a late-game surge got them over the hump for a win.
They can’t afford a slow start against the New England Patriots, who would love nothing more than 60 minutes of grind-fest football. Bill Belichick’s team has allowed just 23 points in the last three games and the second fewest points in the NFL overall.
That’s not to mention that over the last 10 years the Patriots have the best point differential when playing on Thursdays and a 9-2 record.
Cousins has faced off with Belichick twice in his career and is 0-2 with a 69.4 rating.
“Tremendous football mind,” Cousins said of Belichick. “The sample size is large - how long he’s done it, with so many different players. I think he’s always adapted to whatever he feels is going to work that year, that week. He’s really the best ever and his track record speaks for itself. We have a great challenge on Thursday night as a result and their defense again this year is doing a really good job.”
Cousins hasn’t often been in a position to lick wounds after a drubbing. Over his career 135 games, he’s only played in 14 that were lost by more than 15 points.
Since becoming a Viking, there are just four such incidents. He has come back strong the following week from each of them. In 2018 Cousins got back on the horse in Los Angeles with a 31-point output against the Rams after a stunning home loss to the Buffalo Bills. In 2020, the Vikings scored 30 versus Tennessee in Justin Jefferson’s breakout game after they were slowed to a halt against the Colts in a 28-11 loss the previous week.
But games those were not against the GOAT coach.
O’Connell has named Belichick as one of his greatest coaching influences. The Vikings’ head coach was drafted by the Patriots and played for him in 2008. Coincidentally, the only time KOC saw game action was during a rare 25-point Patriots loss. He recalled how Belichick handled taking a brutal L.
“I just remember it was about acknowledging the reality of the game, what happened, what took place, the things we did or didn’t do in the football game that might have contributed to losing that game,” O’Connell said. “And then how do we fix those things, how do we rectify any problems we can or things that we can control by doing our job… That message was always direct, forward and something that was followed up by the entire coaching staff coming off of a game like that…That sticks with me to this very day, just as an example of what it’s like to coach in those moments where adversity hits and how you need to be at your best for your team.”
Rectifying the problems is a tricky process in four days. On Monday receiver Justin Jefferson said the Vikings might need to press the “quick game” button if Cousins faces pressure again. That could very well be the case considering the Patriots have a myriad of rushers who can get after the quarterback, highlighted by the NFL’s leader in sacks Matthew Judon.
“We’re back working at it this week… to make sure we rectify some of those problems,” O’Connell said, adding that he has had consistent dialogue with Jefferson about the offense.
Those problems won’t be easily solved without left tackle Christian Darrisaw, who has been ruled out already with a concussion.
“I feel like we’ve got a good plan, players are digesting it as we go, but make no mistake about it, it’s going to be a heck of a challenge again for our guys up front and really all 11 in the run and pass game,” O’Connell said. “Sacks effect the game as much as anything, but we want to be able to run the football. We want to be able to do the things that allow us to stay true to who we’d like to be as an offense.”
On the defensive side the Vikings are taking on a far inferior opponent to the Cowboys. New England has struggled mightily to produce points this year, scoring just 12 touchdowns in 28 red zone attempts (31st). It’s been more than a sophomore slump for quarterback Mac Jones, who has an 80.8 quarterback rating and just four TD passes on the year.
The Vikings will likely face him shorthanded — or dinged up at best. Rookie corner Andrew Booth Jr. missed Monday and Tuesday with a knee issue and other rookie CB Akayleb Evans was limited as he returns from a concussion. Corner Duke Shelley, who was waived by the Bears out of camp, may be called upon to start.
Pass rusher and defensive player of the year candidate Za’Darius Smith and defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson were also listed as limited. Smith played just 25 snaps against the Cowboys and registered his lowest PFF grade of the year and just one QB pressure. Without Tomlinson, the Vikings allowed over 150 yards rushing to Dallas as well, much of which came up the middle.
So this may be the perfect test of whether the Vikings are sturdy enough — despite being banged up physically and their pride bruised emotionally — to hold serve at home against an elite defense on the national stage. To play more like the 2021 Rams and less like the 2021 Cardinals.
“Get back on track to where we think we are as a football team…and what we truly want to become when the final chapters of our season and the story of our season are told,” O’Connell said.
