Matthew Coller's review: What went right, wrong in Vikings' loss to Rams?

Looking closer at the Thursday night loss in Los Angeles...

Oct 24, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) runs the ball from Los Angeles Rams linebacker Jacob Hummel (35) during the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Vikings suffered their first “letdown” loss of the year to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night. Let’s take a closer look at what the numbers said about the game and what direction some of the trends are pointing…

What went right

The Darnold-Jefferson connection

At the end of Thursday night’s game, Justin Jefferson was the NFL leader in receiving yards and Sam Darnold had a QB rating of 122.7 when targeting Jefferson for the year (per PFF). Darnold threw to Jefferson nine times against the Rams, completed eight for 115 yards, including one of the best catches of Jefferson’s career.

Over the last two weeks, the Vikings have found ways to get the ball to Jefferson over the middle of the field. He caught six of his eight passes over the middle, including four catches on five targets for 67 yards on intermediate throws between 10-20 yards.

The short passing game

While Darnold has been most impressive when launching the ball deep, he was sharp on underneath throws against Los Angeles. On passes under 10 yards through the air, Darnold went 11-for-13 for 107 yards and two touchdowns. That would have been even better if Jalen Nailor hadn’t dropped a pass in the red zone.

There have been times throughout the early part of the season where Darnold has made mistakes by trying to push the ball into tight windows rather than taking his check down or underneath option. On Thursday he was improved in that area, with the only blemishes being sacks.

One area where they still could have added more to the short passing game was in screens. The Vikings only ran two for 18 yards vs. Los Angeles.

Center and right guard pass protection

Pressure coming directly up the middle and from the right guard spot has been problematic for the Vikings. On Thursday night, it was not an issue. Garrett Bradbury posted a 77.8 PFF grade and Ed Ingram a 75.9. They only gave up three QB pressures between them. Bradbury has always been prone to big ups and downs from week to week but this year that has especially been the case. He has three games with pass blocking grades under 40 and three over 67 (two over 77). Ingram’s grade was the third highest of his last two seasons.

With Christian Darrisaw out and the possibility of Dalton Risner moving over to the left side and Blake Brandel sliding to left tackle, the Vikings will need Ingram and Bradbury to be more consistent. Whether that’s possible or not based on their large sample size of inconsistency with pass blocking is questionable but there is no doubt that they badly need the interior to hold up.

Jonathan Greenard

Matthew Stafford was very rarely pressured on Thursday but when he was it was usually Jonathan Greenard. The former Texan had five QB pressures while the rest of the team only totaled seven. When the night was over, Greenard was at the top of the league behind only Aidan Hutchinson for total pressures this season (43). He also ranks ninth in PFF pass rush grade. He has 5.0 sacks this year and with these pressure numbers and QBs who are not the caliber of Goff and Stafford on the way we can expect the sack numbers to increase for Greenard.

What went wrong

Darrisaw’s injury

The Vikings have been mostly healthy across the roster this season but against the Rams disaster struck. At the end of the first half, a Rams player fell on Darrisaw’s knee, injuring his ACL and MCL. O’Connell announced on Monday that he will need surgery and will be out for the season.

Darrisaw ranks 10th overall by PFF among tackles, which is remarkable when you consider the caliber of defensive ends that he has faced this year. He also rates as the eighth best run blocker.

There is no easy solution to replacing Darrisaw. It will take schematic adjustments along with someone stepping up for the offense to survive his loss.

Penalties

The Vikings rank fifth in the NFL in total penalties and several against the Rams were crushing. At the beginning of the second quarter, the Rams were stopped on third-and-7 at their own 49-yard line but Byron Murphy Jr. was called for holding. The Rams moved the ball to the Minnesota 6-yard line after that and the Vikings got another third-down stop but Stephon Gilmore was called for pass interference. The Rams scored a touchdown two plays later.

In the fourth quarter the Rams had second-and-11 from the Minnesota 27-yard line and threw an incomplete pass but Murphy Jr. was hit with an interference penalty that set up a first down at the Vikings 16-yard line. They scored a touchdown three plays later.

The referees came into question a number of times in the game, particularly on the Murphy Jr. holding penalty and a missed obvious facemask on the Vikings final drive. Darnold was clearly taken down in the end zone by his facemask but no flag followed. While it was pointed out that the Vikings win probability was low at that point, Darnold did lead a similar game-tying drive in 2021. While with Carolina, Darnold trailed by the same score 28-20 with two minutes to go against the Vikings and ended up forcing overtime with a touchdown pass and 2-point conversion. A chance at a similar drive was robbed from the Vikings.

Rams targeting Gilmore

Overall, the signing of Stephon Gilmore has been a game changer for the Vikings defense. On Thursday, however, he had his toughest outing of the year. The Rams targeted him eight times, completed six passes for 98 yards including 31 after catch and a touchdown.

The Vikings have to assess why the Lions and Rams were both able to expose the secondary after opponents struggled so much over the first five weeks.

Replacing Cashman

One player doesn’t make an entire defense but Cashman’s absence has been felt on multiple levels. First, the adjustments at the line of scrimmage did not appear to be the same as in previous weeks. Part of that could have been the Rams playing with tempo but Cashman’s ability to make checks prior to the snap was causing havoc for opposing QBs.

As far as the actual performance of the fill-ins, Ivan Pace Jr. graded a 43.2 in coverage, allowing 4-for-4 passing his way including a touchdown. He also had a penalty. Josh Metellus had a 43.1 overall grade, his worst in two years. Kamu Grugier-Hill played just six snaps.

O’Connell said he was “positive” about Cashman’s chances to return vs. the Colts. That could be a huge boost to the struggling defense.

Run blocking

The Rams defensive line did not give the Vikings many opportunities to stay ahead of the sticks on the ground. Aaron Jones only averaged 3.1 yards per carry and it’s not hard to see why when you look at the O-line run blocking grades. Brian O’Neill was above average but nobody else scored above 70 for the Vikings. While Bradbury and Ingram were better in pass protection, they only graded 52.7 and 50.3, respectively, as run blockers. Out of Jones’s 58 yards, 36 had to come after contact.

Overall the Vikings run blocking has been good this year, grading as fourth best in the NFL. Without Christian Darrisaw, that could be a tough mark to maintain.

Non-existent backup RBs

No other running back took a carry against the Rams. On the season, Ty Chandler only has 44 carries and 14 of those came against the Jets when Jones got injured. The fact that Jones had to take the entire workload just four days after playing 46 snaps versus the Lions (and coming off a hamstring injury). Cam Akers, acquired via trade from the Texans, also did not see the field.

“Cam's going to play a role for sure within our offense,” O’Connell said. “I think we've got a ton of confidence in Aaron Jones and just how the game played out, I think when we get a few more snaps, get a little bit more volume to our offense, I think absolutely Cam's going to play a role.”

Dallas Turner had the same number of pressures as Patrick Jones (in 40 fewer snaps)

Early in the season Patrick Jones was a huge part of the pass rush, racking up 5.0 sacks. But he has been taken out of the equation recently, failing to register a QB hurry in three straight weeks. Meanwhile, first-round pick Dallas Turner remained on the sideline, playing just three snaps.

Here’s what O’Connell said about Turner’s usage:

“It'll still be something where it'll keep progressing for Dallas [Turner], he's doing everything from a standpoint of his preparation and growth on a daily basis that we're asking of him. And I think then you'll see more and more of Dallas and I'm very, very excited about having him as part of our team. And that'll be something these next 10 plus games, I think he's going to make a big-time impact for us.”

Lack of interior pressure

Stafford getting rid of the ball on average at 2.5 seconds caused issues for the Vikings pass rushers across the board but the lack of inside pressure has been a six-year trend. Phillips registered three hurries and the only other player with a QB hurry up the middle was Jerry Tillery with one. Could this be an issue to address at the trade deadline? Is there anyone available? Needing to send five rushers on every play or use deception up front on every play is tough to sustain.