Overall, the Minnesota Vikings had a good performance from their offense on Sunday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kirk Cousins threw for 344 yards, but his three turnovers ended up being costly for the Vikings.
One of the other elements that continues to harm the Vikings is the offense going three and out. It was an issue last season happening 55 times across 18 games.
After one week in the 2023 season, it’s already happened five times. That would put the Vikings on pace to go three-and-out a staggering 85 times over 17 games.
One of the constants for the Vikings in these situations was the length of third down. Those five instances had the Vikings needing:
- 2 yards
- 6 yards
- 7 yards
- 7 yards
- 7 yards
Having a longer distance on third down is going to make things more difficult for any team to eliminate going three-and-out. One of the ways to close the gap between the ball and the first down and it starts with the running game.
Over 17 rushes, the Vikings faced eight-man boxes on 11 of them, resulting in only 41 yards on the ground. That won’t happen every single week, but it is worth monitoring as we move forward during the season.
There isn’t a sole answer to fix the issue, but seeing an evolution of Kevin O’Connell as a playcaller is crucial for this to occur. He has been inconsistent at best, but it’s his second season as the Vikings’ playcaller and only his third overall, with 2019 being his other experience.
If this trend continues, it could be worrisome for the Vikings’ success moving forward.
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