Vikings making bad habit of situational struggles, with red zone woes the latest to land on the list

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings under coach Kevin O'Connell have focused — and prided themselves — on situational success from third downs to special teams to the red zone.

That winning in the margins, as they've labeled their philosophy, is occurring far too infrequently this season. They scored only one touchdown in six trips inside the 20-yard during Sunday's 28-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

“We understand what’s going on. We have the players out there who can make the plays and do what we need to do to go down and score,” wide receiver Justin Jefferson said. “We just need to finish those drives, especially in games like this.”

For the third straight game, the Vikings had two giveaways without a takeaway. They won one of those games, in London on Oct. 5 with a late comeback to beat the Cleveland Browns.

“I told our team that is rare and not a formula to win games consistently,” O’Connell said Sunday, reflecting on his postgame speech in London. “That showed up again today and was very unfortunate.”

In a transitional season at quarterback, with J.J. McCarthy's takeover soon to resume after his latest setback, the situational mastery was already going to be critical.

Throw in some bad luck on the injury front, and these struggles have been too much to overcome. The Vikings (3-3) will try to fix these issues quickly with a Thursday night road game looming against the Los Angeles Chargers.

“We put ourselves in some of the situations of the football game that, although they competed, we’ve got to clean up,” O'Connell said.

After giving up far too much on the ground in four of their first five games, the Vikings defense held reigning AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year award winner Saquon Barkley to 44 yards on 18 rushes.

Defensive coordinator Brian Flores seized on the return of linebacker Blake Cashman and frequently put safety Josh Metellus and linebacker Eric Wilson next to him in the box, effectively benching Ivan Pace Jr.

While the focus on stopping the run might well have created vulnerabilities to the deep passes that crippled them against the Eagles, progress was vital with three of the next four opponents ranking in the top 10 in the NFL in rushing.

The offense's struggle inside the 20-yard line was the most concerning of the situational categories, regressing toward a three-year trend. The Vikings ranked 28th in the NFL (47%) in 2023 and 19th (58%) in 2024 in red-zone touchdown rate. They're 22nd now (52%) after going 10 for 15 over the first five games to rank tied for eighth entering Week 7.

Wentz and center Blake Brandel were the two most obvious players who got in the way on Sunday, but Jefferson blamed himself for a drop in the end zone that Cooper DeJean knocked out. Plain old bad luck factored in, too, with the disputed overturn of T.J. Hockenson's diving touchdown catch by the replay officials and a hard-to-figure holding call on Brandel that erased a touchdown pass to Jalen Nailor.

Jordan Addison had a career-best nine catches for 128 yards on 12 targets, matching his career high. Addison, who served a three-game suspension from the NFL to start the season and a disciplinary first-quarter benching by the team in London in Week 5, passed 2,000 yards receiving in his 35th career game to tie for the fifth-fastest player in Vikings history to do so.

Brandel drew rave reviews after his first career start at center on Oct. 5 against a stout Browns defensive line, but his struggles against the Eagles were pronounced, in and out of the red zone.

Brandel, the third option at the critical position after Ryan Kelly was sidelined by a concussion and Michael Jurgens struggled and then missed a game with a hamstring injury, was beaten badly with a swim move by Jalen Carter to allow the pressure that preceded the pick six thrown by Wentz in the second quarter.

The health forecast looks a lot brighter than it did a few weeks ago, after three starters returned on Sunday: Cashman, left guard Donovan Jackson and right tackle Brian O'Neill. McCarthy is close, though in a truncated week without a full practice his status remains uncertain. O'Connell said after the game no decision had been made. Running back Aaron Jones (hamstring) is eligible to return this week from his four-game absence.

Three role players have minor injuries that could affect their availability in a short week: fullback C.J. Ham (hand), running back Zavier Scott (wrist) and defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins (hip). Ham and Scott were hurt during the game.

387 — The Vikings posted their season high in total yards on offense against the Eagles. They topped that six times last year.

While the short-week trip to the West Coast is always a tough draw, the Chargers have lost three of their last four games. The Vikings will then have the benefit of a mini-bye before playing at the Detroit Lions on Nov. 2.

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