The Minnesota Vikings faced the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, and it was an embarrassing loss, 23–6. The Vikings’ offense was pathetic. The special teams continued to be a mess. The Packers weren’t asked to do much offensively and were held in check for most of the day by a decent defensive performance. Emanuel Wilson helped the Packers maintain possession, and the Vikings were never a real threat to win this game. Let’s take a look at who to blame!
(This isn’t that serious — it’s called nincompoop.
Only a nincompoop would be offended.)
Kevin O’Connell
When the entire team is a mess, the head coach has to be at the top of the list. The more worrisome part of the last few weeks is that there has been no improvement on the issues. The same mistakes keep happening. KOC finally adjusted his play-calling on short-yardage downs, but it almost feels like he’s trying to get stopped. He’s one of the most conservative coaches in the league. That conservatism, combined with the lack of execution, is tormenting. There is so much underutilized talent on the offensive side of the ball. When your coach is talking about “watching cement dry” in Week 12, the season has been an utter failure.
J.J. McCarthy
Throw the ball! McCarthy is holding onto the ball forever. His mechanics are a mess, and he’s clearly not ready to play. There is no chance he should be out there looking like this. I don’t believe there is a QB on the roster who can give this team a chance to consistently win games. It’s not that McCarthy looks like a rookie — that we all expected. It’s that he looks like the worst rookie QB you’ve ever seen. Joe Webb played the position better. McCarthy is struggling to move the ball, and he’s not taking care of it. “J.J. Two Picks” might be looking up at someone else on the depth chart next year if there isn’t significant improvement.
Matt Daniels (Special Teams Coordinator)
I am once again asking how this man is still employed. The special teams are terrible outside of the punter and kicker. If he’s a great kicking coach, hire someone else to do the rest. The consistent mental mistakes are a sign of poor coaching and leadership. The head coach and special teams coordinator have to bear that responsibility.
Myles Price
Price has a small role on the team, but he has done it poorly far too poorly, far too many times. Three balls on the ground in two games is fireable unless you’re Devin Hester back there. The most nincompoopish play of the weekend somehow belonged to Price and not J.J. McCarthy.
Dishonorable mention: Christian Darrisaw. He’s been injured, but I’ve never seen him get beat like that. McCarthy holding the ball too long doesn’t help, but it wasn’t a good showing for either offensive tackle as they both went in and out of the lineup.
