It’s already felt like a lifetime, but in reality, we’re still pretty early in the Minnesota Vikings season. This Vikings team has battled injury, quarterback controversy, and extreme travel, but they are still sitting at a positive 3-2 record going into a much-needed bye week. What can we expect from this team coming out of the bye week? A lot of factors play into answering that question, but I wanted to outline a few as the Vikings enjoy their week off.
Get Healthy
Easier said than done, I know, but this is an opportunity for the Vikings to take a step back and try to get as many pieces back as they can. Donovan Jackson, Blake Cashman, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Brian O’Neill are a few major pieces that could be making their return after the bye. With a more solidified offensive line and defensive core, this team has a chance to look even better than it did in the wins against the Browns and Bengals. The other thing about the early bye is that it means that this Vikings team is about to play 12 straight weeks of NFL football, so it’s important that they go into this stretch as healthy and rested as possible.
Figure Out the Quarterback Situation
It’s hard to say that there’s really a situation here, as Kevin O’Connell has been pretty steadfast in his commitment to J.J. McCarthy, but there are still things for the team to figure out. Carson Wentz played solidly in his absence, so J.J. McCarthy will have to take a step forward after the bye if he’s to prove that he deserves the job. For Kevin O’Connell, this means that he has to game-plan properly for his young quarterback to be able to make quicker reads and have more solid decision-making. Whether or not O’Connell can make that adjustment is yet to be seen, but it does help to have 14 days to come up with a winning scheme for the upcoming game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Follow the Giants’ Plan to Beat the Eagles
This sentence seemed improbable just two days ago, but Brian Daboll and the Giants just decimated the Eagles on Thursday Night Football. With Jaxson Dart at the helm, the Giants were able to exploit the Eagles’ shoddy corner play while also bottling up Saquon Barkley on defense. On a two-game slide, the Eagles seem more vulnerable than ever, and it’s up to O’Connell and the Vikings to rise to the challenge and prove that they belong in the conversation as true Super Bowl contenders.
Find an Identity
Even in the wins, the Minnesota Vikings haven’t really shown what type of team they truly are. The win over the Bears in week one felt completely different than the win over the Browns in week five, from play-calling to execution. The run game hasn’t been particularly strong with Jordan Mason, and the passing game hasn’t had the same consistency that it did with Sam Darnold’s long bombs to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison last season. Additionally, the defense has not been able to contain the run or force turnovers as they did last season. 3-2 is nice, but the fact is that this Vikings team won’t go far if they can’t find a consistent winning recipe.
Whether that relies on a strong running game that sets up play action or just a full-on air attack, the Vikings need to find the elements that make their offense click. The same is true for the defense. Perhaps it’s something that will come in time, but with the hardest stretch of the schedule on the horizon, there’s no time like the present for the Vikings to start playing a brand of football that suits the team’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. The Vikings will take on the Eagles at home on September 19th, so we’ll get a chance to see if they’ve had a productive bye week then.
