Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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The Vikings couldn’t get going against the Bears Sunday afternoon and fell to 2-2 after a rough loss to a divisional opponent.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin broke down the disappointing game at Soldier Field, which she said “continued its reputation as the House of Horrors” for the Vikings. She wrote:
The Vikings offense was put in position against a thinned-out defensive front to capitalize in ways it might not have been able to had the unit been at full strength. But it didn’t. The run game was nonexistent. The limitations of Minnesota’s offense, centered on quarterback Kirk Cousins, present this team with a conundrum it has yet to solve.
The Vikings QB was sacked six times on [42] drop-backs and failed to execute important plays that could have sparked life into this offense, like overthrowing Adam Thielen from a clean pocket on third-and-10 that would’ve put the Vikings on the board early after the wide receiver burned his defender and had a clear path to a touchdown.
Cronin noted the lack of throws downfield to receivers, save for the initial deep ball to Thielen, earlier in the day.
It’s hard to believe that no one else is open downfield and that the only option is to repeatedly check down to the fullback or running back in the flat, but Cousins shied away repeatedly from taking deep shots, outside of a 39-yard throw to Diggs that was all for naught after the QB was strip-sacked a second time on a promising drive that ended in a punt. Whether he didn’t have time under pressure or failed to do so for other reasons, it felt as if Cousins wasn’t looking downfield when it could have benefited the offense the most.