Inside The Vikings

Three Takeaways From Vikings' Loss to Buccaneers: Turnovers Prove Costly

The Vikings couldn't stay out of their own way in a frustrating season-opening defeat.

Will Ragatz

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That's not how this one was supposed to go.

On a day where they rocked their classic throwback uniforms while honoring legendary coach Bud Grant, the Vikings were hoping to kick off the 2023 season in style in front of their home crowd. Getting to host Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers at U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 1 seemed like a nice way to start the season with a victory before heading to Philadelphia for a tough challenge on Thursday night.

With better execution on some key plays, that's how things likely would've gone, too. Instead, the Vikings repeatedly shot themselves in the foot on Sunday, making several critical mistakes in a disheartening 20-17 loss. They squandered multiple opportunities to pull away in the first half, then were unable to come up with a game-winning drive or a much-needed stop down the stretch.

Here are three takeaways from a tough day for the Vikings.

Turnovers were the difference

The simplest way to explain what happened in this game is that the Vikings lost the turnover battle 3-0. That's always going to make it difficult to get a win in the NFL, regardless of what else happens. All three turnovers took place during a first half in which the Vikings out-gained the Buccaneers 287 to 96 and could've taken a commanding lead.

"You usually don't have to look much further than that," Kirk Cousins said.

The Vikings were approaching the red zone midway through the opening quarter when Cousins had the football knocked out of his hands by right guard Ed Ingram before he could turn and pitch it to Alexander Mattison. As a result, a drive that should've resulted in at least three points ended in zero.

On the Vikings' next offensive possession, they faced a third-and-6 from their own 30 when Antoine Winfield Jr. burst through the line of scrimmage for a strip-sack that Cousins never saw coming. Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles brought one more player than the Vikings could block, and it paid off as Winfield hit Cousins right before he could get his throw off — and then recovered the ball.

The Bucs capitalized on the takeaway by going up 3-0 at a time when they hadn't been able to get anything going on offense. At one point in the first half, Tampa Bay had gained 30 total yards on its first 17 plays.

Minnesota's final turnover was maybe the most damaging one. With the game tied at 10 late in the first half, Cousins tried to rip a ball into a tight window to K.J. Osborn on a second-and-1 from the Buccaneers' 13. The throw was a little behind Osborn and was picked off by rookie Christian Izien to keep the game tied at halftime.

Cousins said he tried to place the ball there to keep Osborn from being crushed by the safety in the middle of the field. He wishes he would've progressed to Jordan Addison's shorter route and made that throw instead.

"I tried to knife it in there," Cousins said. "Was a little too aggressive."

The two turnovers in Buccaneers territory likely cost the Vikings 6-14 points. The turnover in their own half led directly to three points for Tampa Bay. Minnesota also settled for a field goal on a drive in which they had a first-and-goal from the 6. That's how the game was tied at halftime after the Vikings mostly dominated the first two quarters.

Defensively, the Vikings played quite well in the first half but were unable to create any takeaways of their own. After the break, they struggled to come up with stops and get off the field.

The Vikings were sloppy in other ways, too

It wasn't just the turnovers. There were multiple other instances of the Vikings hurting themselves with self-inflicted wounds in this game. Unforced penalties, specifically, were another issue.

After the two-minute warning in the first half, Vikings OLB Pat Jones II jumped offside, turning a third-and-7 into a much more manageable third-and-2 situation. The Buccaneers were 0-for-6 on third down at that point, but they converted on the ensuing play and tied the game on a Mayfield touchdown pass to Mike Evans less than a minute later.

Midway through the third quarter, the Buccaneers kicked a short field goal to take what would've been a 13-10 lead. But Vikings rookie Jay Ward was flagged for lining up in the neutral zone on the play, giving Tampa Bay a new set of downs. Three plays later, Mayfield threw another touchdown pass to take a 17-10 lead. That's four free points in a game the Vikings lost by three.

Another mistake on special teams hurt the Vikings in the fourth quarter. Before the Buccaneers made a 57-yard field goal to take the lead for good, O'Connell had to burn his first timeout because of some confusion. For whatever reason, safety Lewis Cine began running towards the sideline right before the ball was going to be snapped, causing O'Connell to take the TO.

The Vikings finished the game with six penalties to the Buccaneers' three.

"When you lose the turnover battle three to nothing and have a few critical penalties on some third downs or fourth downs either to allow conversions or make those opportunities shorter or potentially convert, you're doing a lot of things to help the opponent," O'Connell said. "All credit to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they came in and played a good, hard-fought game, but I did feel like there were quite a few self-inflicted mistakes that hopefully we can get ironed out."

The running game is still an area of concern

O'Connell and the Vikings came into this season hoping to significantly improve their running game, which was among the league's least-efficient in 2022. It's why they went out and signed Josh Oliver, an elite blocking tight end, and re-signed players like Mattison, Garrett Bradbury, and C.J. Ham.

Through one week, that part of the Vikings' offense remains a concern. Mattison and Ty Chandler combined for just 34 yards on 14 carries, with only two of Mattison's 11 attempts going for more than five yards. There simply wasn't much room to run against the Buccaneers' defensive front.

Eventually, as was often the case last year, the Vikings essentially abandoned the run. After throwing the ball on 64.4 percent of their snaps a year ago — the third-highest rate in the league — the Vikings had 46 dropbacks to 17 runs on Sunday for a pass rate north of 70 percent.

Cousins did throw for 344 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw a pick and lost a fumble while looking to pass. If the Vikings are truly going to be a more balanced offense in 2023, they have to find ways to run the ball effectively.

"Our expectation was to compete in the run game," O'Connell said. "They've historically been a very good heavy front to run against that showed up today, and they were exactly that. There were no surprises there, and I thought we just didn't execute from a physicality and overall plan the way we had hoped, and that's on me."

"Up front, I think we gotta just get a little bit more movement, a little bit more connectedness on our combinations and try to just get efficient as we possibly can and then have ways of generating explosives in the run game to pair with the ability to get Justin going and Jordan and some of these other guys, T.J. in the pass game, while protecting Kirk," O'Connell added. "It's got to come together overall a little bit better than it did today."

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