On Sunday afternoon at Ford Field, the Minnesota Vikings finally ran into a situation where their defense couldn’t overcome what is becoming one of the worst offenses in recent team history.
The Vikings’ offense had ten possessions on Sunday afternoon in Detroit (excluding their kneel down at the end of the first half). Only two of those possessions lasted longer than three minutes. The Lions had a more than eleven-minute advantage in time of possession (35:43 to 24:17). Usually, those sorts of numbers
are a recipe for a beatdown. That the margin of victory wound up being four points, and that the Vikings had a lead with five minutes left to go in the game, is a testament to the effort the defense was able to put up before they finally just got worn down.
But this offense, quite simply, is just not a serious NFL offense right now. And, unfortunately, the path to any sort of a simple fix for this season just doesn’t appear to be there.
There were those of us who spent this offseason screaming into the void that Kyler Murray was not a fit for what the Vikings have wanted to do offensively in the Kevin O’Connell era. Think, for a second, about the two quarterbacks who have really been successful in this offense since O’Connell became the head coach: Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold. What did those guys do well?
Lined up under center, excelled in the play-action game, turned their back to the defense, didn’t run around a lot, manipulated the pocket and fired passes down the field.
Or, to put it another way. . .roughly the exact opposite of everything Kyler Murray has done throughout his NFL career prior to now.
Per a September article from Garrett Burroughs over at Vikings Wire, during his time in Arizona, Murray was lined up in the shotgun on approximately 85% of the Cardinals’ snaps, per numbers taken from Next Gen Stats. Since O’Connell became the Vikings’ head coach in 2022, only two teams in the NFL had a lower percentage of snaps out of the shotgun than the Vikings’ 53%.
The style of offense that O’Connell has wanted to run since he became the Vikings’ head coach is not compatible with Murray’s skill set, and whatever adjustments needed to be made apparently have not been. But, here we are, continuing to attempt to jam the square peg into the round hole with entirely predictable results.
And, respectfully, miss me with any sort of “Well, he had to split reps in training camp” excuse. Kyler Murray is approaching 100 career NFL starts. If he looks like this because he had to cede a few training camp reps. . .well, then there are a few other questions that need to be answered.
So, what’s the fix? Honestly, I’m not sure if there is one.
There probably isn’t a feasible trade scenario. Any quarterback that you’re going to trade for at this point is probably going to require you to pay through the nose and will require an adjustment period of some sort. There is one notable exception, and man, if you think people have thoughts about the quarterback situation now, just wait until the potential premiere of Kirko 2: Kirk Harder.
Yes, Kirk Cousins could step into this offense immediately and be an upgrade. . .and, yes, I can’t believe that’s a sentence I’m typing in this, the year of our Lord 2026. But that comes with a hitch as well, that being that the Las Vegas Raiders have had the audacity to go out and actually be a competitive football team this season, largely due to Cousins’ play.
Did you know that Kirk Cousins is currently second in the NFL in touchdown passes? He’s thrown more than Josh Allen, more than Patrick Mahomes, more than Matthew Stafford, and more than anyone else not named Joe Burrow. And outside of Brock Bowers, I can’t name three guys he’s throwing the ball to without going to ESPN or Pro Football Reference or something. So while a Cousins trade would help the Vikings. . .do the Raiders even want to move him?
(Would it be wrong to point out that the Vikings could have signed Cousins this offseason? That would be wrong of me, wouldn’t it? Okay, then, I won’t do it.)
For better or worse, the Vikings may be locked into their current quarterback depth chart for the rest of this season. Maybe I’ll be wrong on that, but I don’t see anything else that does anything for them this season at the quarterback spot.
The Vikings have had other trade rumors around them as well, notably for Colts’ running back Jonathan Taylor. Our friends at Stampede Blue have said that the asking price for Taylor is a first-round pick and a defensive tackle, which is a price that the Vikings should absolutely not be entertaining, in my opinion. Jonathan Taylor doesn’t fix this offense if there’s no passing game, and in its current state, the Vikings need to be careful about expending too much draft capital. Why?
Well, because this team has zero quarterbacks on the roster under contract beyond this season. Murray is here on a one-year deal and, as we know, hasn’t been making what you’d call a super compelling case for being the long-term guy anyway. Carson Wentz is on a one-year deal and also isn’t the long-term answer. And if you’ve looked at the 2027 free agent pool at the quarterback position, it’s a bit of a wasteland. Even in the aftermath of the J.J. McCarthy situation. . .and don’t get me started on that again. . .this team is probably going to have to take another swing at a quarterback in the draft sooner rather than later, and given that they already have six wins, if they want to make any sort of move for a top quarterback in 2027, they’re going to need picks to do that.
I can understand Kevin O’Connell coming to the podium after games each week and telling us that the offense is close and that the breakthrough is coming any time now. I get it, honestly. But, you know. . .we’re halfway through the 2026 season. At this point, you sort of are what you are. And, at this point, the Minnesota Vikings are a bottom-five NFL offense by pretty much any objective measure, and I’m not sure that there’s a fix that’s going to change that for the second half of this season.
But, as always, I’m more than open to Nolan Teasley and company proving me wrong.
