The championship round seems a million miles away from where the Minnesota Vikings currently are, but as I watched the games this weekend I realized there are plenty of lessons the next head coach and new GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah can learn from the four teams that were still in contention. Here are some ideas the Vikings should poach from their more successful colleagues.
Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Burrow‘s Leadership and Resiliency
One of the best underdog stories of this season has been Joe Burrow and how he had taken the struggling Bengals to an AFC Championship. Burrow not only led his team to their first playoff win in 31 years, but he followed it up with a win on the road against the No. 1-seeded Tennessee Titans.
Burrow’s leadership has been a key reason for Cincinnati’s ascension. He drives his team to have a short-term memory – they don’t dwell on the franchise’s grim history. Even after Cincy ended their 31-year winless streak in the playoffs with the dramatic win against the Las Vegas Raiders, Burrow urged the team to focus on next week.
He has also shown an ability to overcome any obstacle that he has faced. Burrow was able to come back from a disastrous knee injury in time to take the first snaps of training camp. He was sacked nine times against the Titans last week and still got back up to beat them. There are very few quarterbacks who can win after getting hit that much, but Burrow has proven he’s in elite company.
Even this week against the Kansas City Chiefs, his ability to bring his team back from an 18-point deficit on the road against one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL is an incredible feat for a player who is only in his second year. While the Vikings do have a player in Justin Jefferson who has the same swagger and charisma, he doesn’t quite have the same level of leadership his former LSU quarterback has.
Evan McPherson’s clutch gene
Unflappable rookie kicker Evan McPherson is another key contributor to the Bengals’ rise. They put a lot of their faith in McPherson to draft him in the fifth round. Aside from a disastrous game against the Packers, he has justified their faith.
McPherson has set the record for the most 50-plus-yard kicks made in a season with 11. He has also been the epitome of clutch, a quality Vikings kickers have lacked for what seems like forever. Burrow said last week in his press conference that he overheard McPherson say, “Looks like we’re going to the AFC Championship” seconds before drilling the game-winning kick.
Even in the AFC Championship game at Arrowhead, a notoriously unforgiving field for kickers, McPherson was able to nail every attempt, including the game-winner in overtime that sent the Bengals to the Super Bowl. McPherson is exactly what the Vikings thought they would be getting in Daniel Carlson.
Kansas City Chiefs
Patrick Mahomes‘ improvisation
Yes, I know Mahomes is a once-in-a-generation player. It is hard for us to expect any of Minnesota’s potential quarterbacks to do what he does. But I would like to see whomever lines up under-center next year to be able to make off-schedule plays.
The biggest knock on Kirk Cousins has always been his inability to extend plays. Mahomes is able to do this with ease, looking off of his first read while scrambling out of the pocket to create something new from the chaos. While it hurts the team sometimes, taking the risk instead of playing conservatively is something Vikings fans haven’t seen since Case Keenum.
While this improvisation did hurt the Chiefs this week — it almost cost them the game when Mahomes fumbled on the final play of regulation — it was part of the reason why the Chiefs were able to make it as far as they did. His ability to extend the play and make a sidearm throw to Tyreek Hill or Travis Kelce in the back of the end zone is something the Vikings should want to see next season.
Kansas City’s offensive line
The Vikings’s offensive line has long been an albatross. While they are in a better place than they have been in the past with the likes of Brian O’Neill and Christian Darrisaw, they could learn a thing or two from the Chiefs.
After getting thoroughly embarrassed in the Super Bowl by Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett, the Chiefs understood that they needed to rebuild the O-line if they wanted to win another championship. What they did this offseason is nothing short of masterful.
Kansas City was able to land Orlando Brown Jr. in a trade to solidify the left tackle position. They also nabbed prized free agent Joe Thuney to take over the left guard position while coaxing Kyle Long out of retirement to step in at right guard. The Chiefs also rebuilt the line through the draft, capitalizing on Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith sliding down the board.
With the tackle positions looking set for the future, Kwesi Adofo-Mensi and the new coach will need to solidify the interior offensive line.
San Francisco 49ers
Kyle Shannahan’s offense innovation
Shannahan might be the best coach in the NFL given where he has gotten relative to what he has had to work with. He has been able to mask Jimmy Garoppolo’s limitations. He has done this through multiple avenues like a strong running game and lining up Deebo Samuel as a running back, something we haven’t seen before.
Shanahan has figured out a way to utilize his best player and get the ball in his hands as often as possible. While this strategy might not be as effective for Jefferson and Adam Thielen, I can’t help but think about Tavon Austin and Cordarrelle Patterson, whose talent was wasted by a coach who was unable to think outside the box and figure out how to use their athleticism in the open field.
Imagine how much better the Vikings could have been if they were able to figure out a way to use Patterson instead of putting the entire offensive load on Adrian Peterson in the early 2010s. It would have helped keep Peterson fresh while providing an additional element to the Vikings’ offense that would’ve further taken the load off of Christian Ponder and Teddy Bridgewater.
DeMeco Ryans‘ leadership
It’s no secret that Ryans is on the shortlist for potential Vikings head coaches, and I think he’s Minnesota’s best option. While some people would be hesitant to sign yet another defensive-minded head coach after 12 years of Leslie Frazier and Mike Zimmer, I think Ryans is a much different type of coach.
When you hear any of the players or other coaches talking about Ryans, you understand how well respected he. His guys love to play for him. When asked about Ryans, star linebacker Fred Warner had nothing but praise about his defensive coordinator’s ability to manage in game situations.
All of the Niners’ success in the playoffs this year came without a No. 1 corner. Ryans’ unit held CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper, and Davante Adams to minimal damage while flustering Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers with the pass rush. He has also made other potential head coaching candidates in Nathaniel Hackett and Kellen Moore look clueless in the most important games of the season. With the current state of the Vikings’ defense, I would love to see Ryans come in and rebuild it from the ground up.
Despite the loss to the Rams this weekend, the defense still played well, forcing turnovers and hurrying Matt Stafford. If 49ers safety Jaquiski Tartt was able to haul in a gift of an interception with nine minutes to go, the game could’ve been completely different.
Los Angeles Rams
Secondary pass rushers
We all know how good Aaron Donald is, but Leonard Floyd and Von Miller have also done a lot to put them in a good position by taking advantage of the one-on-one matchups Donald creates for them. In the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Donald was constantly double- and triple-teamed. Miller capitalized on the resulting one-on-one matchup he had with Donovan Smith and constantly beat the left tackle around the edge.
This sort of tandem pass-rushing is something the Vikings have lacked since the first go-round with Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen. Hunter isn’t as dominant when he does not have the support of another dominant edge rusher to take pressure off of him. While Wonnum might develop into that guy, he is far from a sure thing.
The ability to go all-in
This Rams team is the definition of Super Bowl or bust. They have mortgaged their future through a variety of trades to win a ring right now, and I love it. Every time that a relative weakness was exposed, they went out and made a corresponding move to fill the hole. Cam Akers went down, so they got Sony Michel. The pass rush wasn’t living up to expectations, so they got Von Miller. Jared Goff wasn’t cutting it at QB, so they traded for Matthew Stafford. They snatched up Odell Beckham Jr. and lured Eric Weddle out of retirement.
In the past, the Vikings have been too safe with some of their moves and weren’t willing to make significant risks to land veteran contributors. They instead opted to trade down and land a gaggle of sixth- and seventh-round picks. Their biggest moves often seemed panic-driven (Yannick Ngakoue, Sam Bradford, etc.). This ability to go all-in and disregard picks for veterans is something Kwesi Adofo-Mensah can stand to learn if the Vikings are in a strong contention spot.
