Kevin O'Connell hints that Vikings need to make defensive changes
The Minnesota Vikings have allowed 2,303 yards over the past five games, including 464 in a 34-23 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday – the fifth consecutive game allowing 400+ yards to the opposition.
Time for changes? It certainly sounds like it.
"It's a combination of some things but I think we gotta take a look at what we can do to potentially help our guys be in position to make more plays. Be a little bit more aggressive possibly, but ultimately I think we gotta generate some more rush and then just try to limit explosives," said head coach Kevin O'Connell after Sunday's loss dropped the Vikings to 10-3.
"What that looks like, I think it's a variety of things. But I think if we're doing our jobs effectively we have to take a look at it to improve our football team."
Our lack of pass rush and non-existent pass coverage is inexcusable. Improvements need to happen immediately #SKOL
— Ben Leber (@nacholeber) December 11, 2022
The pass rush has been next to non-existent during the brutal stretch, which the Vikings have gone 3-2 after starting the season 7-1.
Minnesota was 15th in the NFL with 31 sacks entering Sunday's game and they ended the game still at 31 sacks. They had two sacks against Buffalo, none against Dallas, three against New England, one against the Jets and none versus Detroit. That's six sacks in the last five games, and two of them were very late against the Patriots after Mac Jones sat in a clean pocket and shredded the Vikings for 382 yards.
The Vikings had 25 sacks in their first eight games, so the drop off has been stark.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Vikings brought more than four rushes on only nine plays against the Lions and only two of those resulted in pressure.
Danielle Hunter has two sacks in the last five games and Za'Darius Smith has gone four games in a row without a sack. In fairness to Smith, his drop in production follows a knee ailment that saw his name on the injury report multiple times.
Smith was a defensive player of the year candidate after racking up three sacks in Minnesota's win over Arizona Oct. 30. At that point, he had 37 pressures and 8.5 sacks. He has one sack in six games since, though entering this week he led the NFL with 64 pressures.
Has the issue been about the scheme – bend but don't break – or more about playing a rash of good teams? Failing to get pressure on Josh Allen and Dak Prescott is excusable, but letting Mac Jones, Mike White and Jared Goff sit comfortably in the pocket is an issue.
Fans won't have to wait long to see if changes are made. The Vikings host the Colts Saturday at noon.
Related: 5 things that stood out in the Vikings' loss to the Lions
Related: Failure to clinch: Lions the latest to carve up Vikings defense
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.