Minnesota Vikings issues with penalties aren’t a one game problem, but they were emphasized on Sunday vs. Ravens
It’s honestly ridiculous that this is such a big issue.
The Minnesota Vikings this season has been defined by one thing: penalties.
There have been other reasons why the Vikings have struggled this season to earn their 4-5 record, but the consistent issues with penalties have been the one constant across all nine games. On Sunday afternoon, the Vikings didn’t just have 13 penalties for 102 yards, they had a whopping eight false starts, which was the first time a home team had that many since the 2009 Buffalo Bills.
“The penalty situation, which we’ve got to get fixed immediately, specifically the pre snaps, whatever was going on with the cadence, or whatever it may be, just not acceptable in any way,” said head coach Kevin O’Connell.
Penalties are a major reason the Vikings are 4-5
The penalties have been brutal for the Vikings, and it got worse on Sunday. Even so, the Vikings offense still moved the ball well, including a chance to win the game at the end.
“The penalty situation and the turnover situation being what it was when you average over six yards of play on offense. It’s all for not if you’re going to be giving back so many of those yards in different capacities,” said O’Connell.
“We’ve got to find a way to, first and foremost, correct whatever the issue was. Normally, we can do that in game if there’s an issue. But there just seemed to be flinch here and there, way, way, way too much. So if there was any uncertainty of what we were doing, that obviously, is something we’ve got to get corrected, no matter who’s in the game and all those things, something we’ve got to do.”
The problem with what O’Connell said is that this isn’t a one-game issue. The Vikings have been brutal all season long when it comes to penalties. The Vikings currently have the fourth-most penalties in the NFL, while having the most false start penalties. The procedural penalties are getting ridiculous, as the Vikings have 33 of them.
- False start: 19
- Delay of game: 4
- Illegal formation: 4
- Neutral zone infraction: 3
- 12 men on the field: 2
- Offensive offsides: 1
There is a severe lack of discipline with this team, and it’s been that way from the start of the season. It raises questions about how the Vikings have spent their time on the practice field. At this point in the season, there isn’t a lot that can be done to truly fix these issues. The best they can do is try to mitigate it as much as possible and take advantage of the yards they are able to generate on both the ground and through the air.
The good news for the Vikings? They still average 6.0 yards per play on Sunday, something that is crazy to think about when the starting quarterback didn’t complete more than 50 percent of his passes. Mitigate the penalties just a little bit, and you have a team that can win football games moving forward.
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