Justin Jefferson didn’t mince words after the Minnesota Vikings’ 30-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
“We just need to stay on people’s necks,” he said. “Just go out there and execute every single play for 60 minutes. That’s what it comes down to. Who wants it more?”
A week ago, the Vikings were 5-0 and in control of their face in the NFC. They could squint into the mirror and see the best team in the league. Minnesota would have to angle the mirror away from the Kansas City Chiefs, but that wasn’t that hard. They play on the other side of Iowa in a different conference.
However, Minnesota ceded the division by losing to the Detroit Lions and faded under LA’s harsh desert sun. Suddenly, the formidable Vikings look vulnerable.
The Green Bay Packers used tempo in the second half of their ill-fated comeback to prevent Minnesota’s defense from making checks at the line. Then, Detroit used Dagger to create explosives over the middle of the field with Blake Cashman out. Suddenly, the Vikings looked at the mirror on the wall and realized they weren’t the fairest team of all.
Minnesota’s schedule lightens up with matchups against the 4-3 Indianapolis Colts, 2-5 Jacksonville Jaguars, and 1-5 Tennessee Titans. Still, the Vikings can’t take any opponent for granted. The word is out on how to beat them. As Jefferson alluded, it’s time for them to get a little wicked.
“At the end of the day, this is the league, and nothing is handed to us,” said Jefferson. “No team is just a sad team where we’re just going to walk all over them. That’s not going to happen.
“We need to look each other in the mirror, look each other in the eyes, and figure out what to do next.”
Josh Metellus had a similar refrain in a Fox 9 post-game interview.
“We got to look in the mirror,” he said, “[and] ask ourselves a couple of questions about who we are and what’s our standard.”
Perhaps it’s the Mandela effect, but two players mentioned looking at the mirror and self-assessing. Kevin O’Connell never said “mirror” in his post-game press conference. However, he wasn’t feeling generous after Minnesota’s most recent loss.
“Offensively, I thought we got off to a good start in the game and had some self-inflicted [penalties] once again that kind of slowed the momentum there,” he said. “It’s a good offense we’re playing. They got healthy, and we’re pretty explosive against us.
“We just got to find a way as a team across the board to play better. I’m not gonna make any kind of excuses about the short week, about penalties, or anything like that. We’ll get back to work.”
Ultimately, that’s saying that the team must look in the mirror and self-assess. Therefore, the players likely relayed O’Connell’s message after the game. It’s a good message. The Vikings were on a short week, the Rams got Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua back, and the referees missed a blatant facemask on Sam Darnold.
Still, the players aren’t the only ones who need some soul-searching. Minnesota’s offense has slowed once it gets off its scripted plays, indicating that O’Connell must better adjust to defenses in real time as the game progresses.
The Vikings have created a vicious cycle. They built a 28-7 halftime lead over the Packers, only to have Green Bay outscore them 22-3 in the fourth quarter. Minnesota also built a 23-17 lead over the New York Jets in London. However, Aaron Rodgers and Co. outscored them 17-6 after that and nearly came back and won the game.
On Thursday, the Vikings had 140 yards on 18 plays in the first quarter and six yards on eight in the second.
In the last month, the Vikings have gone from staving off a Packers comeback in a game that wasn’t as close as it appeared to proving they can win ugly to losing two-straight games. They’ve sailed into the Bermuda Triangle, and the cyclone is tightening. It’s not time to abandon ship. But a week ago, they could have looked in the mirror and said they’re one of the best teams in football. Now, they have 10 days to assess who they are and what they want to be.