Written by Chris Schad
There is little doubt that the Minnesota Vikings’ offense hasn’t been as good as advertised. Coming into Sunday’s game with the reeling New York Jets, the Vikings rank 30th in passing offense. This is disconcerting as offensive coordinator Norv Turner was supposed to jump start the aerial attack, but the results haven’t been there.
A lot of the struggles could be from having a rookie quarterback being thrown into the fire. After Matt Cassel went down with a broken foot in Week 3, the Vikings turned to Teddy Bridgewater, who has given the passing offense erratic results with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions over nine starts.
The erratic performance hasn’t been helped by the ineffectiveness of his offensive line. With Matt Kalil struggling and the absence of injured mainstays Brandon Fusco and Phil Loadholt, the Vikings are fourth in the NFL with 149 quarterback pressures according to Pro Football Focus.
There is also the loss of Adrian Peterson. While Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata have done an admirable job filling in for the Vikings’ biggest offensive threat, they don’t strike the fear into a defense like Peterson does. His mere presence would keep defense from pinning their ears back and rushing the quarterback while opening things up through the air.
All of these would make a fine scapegoat for the Vikings’ troubles, but maybe it’s not that hard. Perhaps the receiving corps that was regarded so highly coming into the season isn’t what the coaching staff thought they had.
At the center of disappointment stands Cordarrelle Patterson. The second-year wide receiver was thought to take a major leap under Turner’s guidance and become this year’s version of Josh Gordon. However, Patterson has struggled to learn the offense and has just 30 catches on the season for 350 yards and one touchdown.
The coaching staff hasn’t done Patterson any favors, as they’ve refused to manufacture touches in the same way Bill Musgrave did in the second half of last season. While some may see this as a sign that he’s in the doghouse, Mike Zimmer has done his best to put those thoughts to bed.
“I’m going to say this over and over until somebody believes me,” Zimmer said of Patterson during his Monday press conference. “I am in this guy’s corner.”
Words are one thing, but so are Zimmer’s actions. Patterson only played three snaps in Sunday’s victory over the Carolina Panthers, but Zimmer attributed that to him attending a funeral that required him to miss two days of practice last week.
Even with that, there have been hints with Zimmer grumbling that Patterson “must get open” and that “it might take a while” for Patterson’s talents to translate to the NFL. With his third year upcoming, time might be running out to get that answer.
On the other side of the field, veteran Greg Jennings is looking like a free agent bust. Originally signed for some stability at the position, the former Packer is trudging through a decent season (46 rec., 546 yards, 4 TDs), but not one that justifies his $11 million cap hit coming in 2015.
With little talent behind Jennings and Patterson (excluding the emergence of Charles Johnson in recent weeks), the Vikings are going to need to re-work their receivers if they expect to take off as soon as next season.
After botching a golden opportunity to add some talent in the loaded receiver class in last year’s draft, the Vikings could opt to take Amari Cooper with their first-round pick or even make a run at free-agents to be Randall Cobb, Torrey Smith or Michael Crabtree. (The free-agent class also features Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas, who are likely to be franchised by their respective teams if an agreement on an extension can’t be reached.)
Just like any healthy relationship, passing game success is a two-way street. If the Vikings can’t find reliable targets for Bridgewater, the Turner scheme will never take off in Minnesota. As we’ve seen in recent weeks, that could be the one thing that is holding them back.
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Chris Schad contributes to 105 The Ticket and has had his work featured on the Bleacher Report and Yahoo Contributor Network. He serves as the Vikings Lead Writerfor Pro Football Spot. Find him on Twitter @crishad. |