Written by Sam Ekstrom
The 2-4 Minnesota Vikings have numerous issues to address at the moment: the offensive line, the anemic passing attack and several key injuries. But one particular issue that came up over the weekend, again, was the team’s tendency to start out slowly on defense.
Thanks to a 28-point explosion from Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday against the Buccaneers, Tampa Bay took over the infamous league lead in first quarter points allowed. The team they overtook was the Vikings, who fell behind less than four minutes into their game against Detroit and never recovered.
The Vikings have now allowed 51 first quarter points, second worst in the NFL. In the Vikings’ four losses this year, they have allowed 11 points per quarter.
“We’ve gotta find a way to stop them,” said Everson Griffen when he was asked about playing defense first. “We can’t let them beat us up. We’ve got to be able to be the frontrunners, three and out, or stop them, don’t let them get a field goal.” The Vikings deferred after winning the coin toss and put the Lions on offense immediately, starting at their own 20-yard line. Seven plays later, Detroit had scored a touchdown on a drive highlighted by a 41-yard screen pass.
Though the first quarters haven’t been kind to Minnesota, it was only the second time all year a team had scored on its opening drive against the Vikings. In both those games, however, the Vikings never led.
“We had the screen pass, and we messed that up. We didn’t get off a couple of blocks, we had one guy loaf,” said head coach Mike Zimmer of the opening drive. “That was the big one, and then we made a mistake in the redzone on the touchdown pass.”
“We just believe we’re not clicking on all cylinders at the beginning of the game,” said outside linebacker Gerald Hodges. “We need to start how we finish.”
Hodges has a point. The Vikings are second best in the league in fourth quarter points allowed with just 20. This shows that Vikings’ coaches have likely made adjustments after lousy first quarters, but it also could mean that teams have resorted to vanilla offenses after building large leads. In Minnesota’s four losses, they’ve been beaten by an average of 20 points per game.
But still, the first drives — and first quarters in general — have put Minnesota behind the 8 ball in several contests. “Everyone has to do their job on the first drive and settle down and get ready,” said cornerback Captain Munnerlyn. “I think that sometimes we might be too antsy and too excited instead of just locking in and focusing.” Against New Orleans, the Vikings gave up two touchdowns and 13 points on the first two drives before outscoring the Saints the rest of the way in a 20-9 loss. Two weeks ago in a lopsided loss to Green Bay, the Vikings held the Packers on their first drive but went on to surrender touchdowns on the next two possessions and trailed 14-0 after eight minutes. And as mentioned, the Lions scored quickly on Sunday.
In every case, the opposing team received the ball first, giving them the potential for an extra first half possession. Whether the Vikings win the coin toss or not, playing defense first is something Zimmer prefers. “I feel like you can get an extra possession if you do things right, if you play defense first,” said Zimmer. “Plus, you can hopefully get good field position … It was just my philosophy, you’d say.”
Zimmer speaks to the possibility of going ‘two-for-one,’ or scoring just before halftime, then getting the ball back immediately to start the second half – two consecutive possessions. Looking back to the Vikings last playoff game, it was the two-for-one concept that turned a 10-3 deficit against the Packers into a 24-3 spread without the Vikings getting a shot to answer.
Getting the second half kickoff is also a nice way to steal back momentum if the first half went poorly, as it often has for the Vikings. But four times the Vikings have opened the second half with the football and only come away with six total points.
Taking this into account, it could benefit Zimmer to make a philosophy change moving forward. Not only has his defense been more prepared to stop teams later in games versus in the first quarter, but his offense has been most successful in the game’s early stages.
The Vikings have two opening drive touchdowns and an opening drive field goal this season, and they had the ball in the red zone against Detroit before a Teddy Bridgewater interception. What this reveals is that the Vikings are benefiting from offensive coordinator Norv Turner’s gameplanning during the week when he has a chance to script the first 10-15 plays. Turner knows that offensive conditions are at their best when the game is in its infancy. There is no need to pass your way out of a large deficit, there is no pressure from a dwindling clock and it’s unlikely the field position will be very poor.
In these situations, the Vikings have shown great offensive sophistication and efficiency. In Week 2 against New England, Matt Cassel drove the Vikings 80 yards in seven plays, and in Week 4, Bridgewater took the Vikings 73 yards in eight plays. Unfortunately, this well-oiled offensive machine has quickly turned into a squeaky wheel in each game except Week 4 versus Atlanta. Even in the Vikings’ Week 1 win over St. Louis, the offense struggled to find a rhythm for much of the game. Putting the puzzle pieces together, it seems like the best fit for the Vikings is when the offense gets an extra possession in the first half and the defense faces an extra possession in the second half once Zimmer has had a chance to adjust.
The Vikings have four double-digit losses in their first six games. Something has to change. Both sides of the ball need to be setting the tone.
“You just have to go out there and get your three-and-out and get off,” said middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley. “That’s the goal.”
| Sam Ekstrom is a staff writer for Cold Omaha at 105 The Ticket. He has previously served as a play-by-play broadcaster in Iowa and South Dakota and has covered Minnesota sports since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @SamEkstrom for further insights |