Takeaways: Vikings fall to 0-3 after 31-30 loss to Titans

Dalvin Cook #33, Adam Thielen #19 and Tyler Conklin #83 of the Minnesota Vikings celebrate a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans by Cook during the first quarter of the game at U.S. Bank Stadium on September 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ((Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images))

The Minnesota Vikings talked all off-season that their goal, just like it is every year, was to compete for a Super Bowl in 2020.

A virtual off-season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no mini camps, no organized team activities, a vastly different training camp and no preseason wouldn’t be a problem. Yet here we are, there weeks into the season and the Vikings sit 0-3. They failed to be competitive in the first two games, then failed to execute when it mattered the most in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings head to Houston Sunday in a battle of 0-3 teams, and their season is on the brink of disaster as we exit September. Here are takeaways from Sunday’s loss.

Big days for Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook not enough

In his third game and first NFL start, Justin Jefferson made Vikings’ fans reminisce about Randy Moss. Jefferson had seven catches for 175 yards and a touchdown Sunday. He finished the first half with six catches for 104 yards, becoming the first rookie since Moss in 1998 to get 100 yards receiving in a half. His 71-yard touchdown in the third quarter gave the Vikings a 24-12 lead. Gary Kubiak vowed he would get Jefferson more involved last week, and we saw the result.

Kubiak also said last week Dalvin Cook would get more involved. The result was 22 carries for a career-high 181 yards and a 39-yard touchdown run. He averaged 8.2 yards per carry. They have the playmakers they need on offense, the only thing they didn’t get was the payoff when it mattered the most.

Is there a disconnect between Kirk Cousins and Mike Zimmer?

Down 31-30 with 1:44 left, the Vikings had the ball with a chance to win the game with a field goal. They only needed about 40 yards to get in Dan Bailey’s range, and they were gifted a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty to start. They proceeded to go backwards from there. Cousins faced immediate pressure twice on incomplete passes, and in-between wasn’t ready for a snap from Garrett Bradbury that resulted in a 16-yard loss. Cousins then threw a game-sealing interception on a Hail Mary.

After the game, Mike Zimmer called the series “a complete disaster” and was critical of his offense in a key moment.

“I want our offense, those guys are all veteran guys. I want them to take charge in those moments, when we have the opportunity to go down and win the football game. Instead it was chaos,” Zimmer said.

Cousins said after the game it probably shouldn’t have come down to that drive. The Vikings piled up 464 yards and 30 points, and had little to show for it at the end.

“Any time you have almost 500 yards and score 30 points, you’re doing something correct,” Cousins said.

Their relationship is certainly something to monitor going forward, especially after both got contract extensions in the off-season.

What’s going on with the defense?

For starters, the Vikings were without four starters Sunday against Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry and the Titans. Anthony Barr is out for the season, Cameron Dantzler and Mike Hughes were out and no Danielle Hunter. For the third straight game, the Vikings’ defense got gashed in the run game for 134 yards. Tannehill threw for 321 yards, and at times looked like the quarterback that led the Titans to the AFC title game last year.

The Vikings are beat up, and they’re going through growing pains with a young secondary. Holton Hill and Jeff Gladney each had their times of giving up big plays, which led the Tennessee scores. There’s little pressure on the quarterback, and in three games, the Vikings have given up 102 points and 1,320 total yards.

Offensive line falters in big spots

Despite putting up 464 yards Sunday, the Vikings did nothing with their final two drives of the game when it mattered the most. Cousins faced pressure on 18 of his 30 drop backs on the day, the third-most in his career as a starter and a single-game high for quarterbacks so far this season. He rushed two throws for incompletions on the final series because of immediate pressure. The Vikings also took safeties in consecutive games. The offense was better Sunday, but the offensive line needs to be more consistent in big spots.

Untimely turnovers plague Vikings’ offense

Dalvin Cook had a big game Sunday, but also had an early fumble that led to three Tennessee points. Leading 17-9 at the half, Kirk Cousins threw a pick-6 that was ultimately called back due to an illegal block. Thankfully for Cousins and the Vikings, the Titans did nothing with the turnover, after a strip sack from Yannick Ngakoue ended the drive with a punt. Cousins has six interceptions through three games, the most in his career as a starter after three games, and that’s after throwing just seven all last season. They’re not always translating into points for the other team, but they are killing momentum, which has already been hard to come by for Minnesota’s offense this season.

Things don’t get any easier this week. The Vikings head to Houston to face an equally desperate 0-3 Texans squad.