The loss of Christian Darrisaw is finally catching up to the Minnesota Vikings and it's a major problem
There were a lot of factors that led to the Minnesota Vikings' failure to win the NFC North in a 31-9 loss against the Detroit Lions on Sunday night. The biggest of them all? The offensive line. Now, that's not to excuse quarterback Sam Darnold for his issues with accuracy that were present all night […]
There were a lot of factors that led to the Minnesota Vikings' failure to win the NFC North in a 31-9 loss against the Detroit Lions on Sunday night. The biggest of them all? The offensive line.
Now, that's not to excuse quarterback Sam Darnold for his issues with accuracy that were present all night long. It also doesn't excuse head coach Kevin O'Connell from the lack of adjustments on the offensive side of the ball to counteract the blitzes the Lions were sending.
The Vikings miss Christian Darrisaw in the worst way
What the game did expose was something that we've known for the last 10 weeks: they desperately missed Christian Darrisaw.
Throughout the final 10.5 games where they didn't have Darrisaw, his loss was often felt, but Cam Robinson was often good enough to compensate for his loss. Nobody believed he would be an equal replacement, but it's been rough in recent weeks.
Against the Lions, Robinson allowed a total of nine pressures per Pro Football Focus. During his 10 games with the Vikings, Robinson has allowed a whopping 37 pressures and 10 total penalties. It's fair to note that not all pressures are creative equally, especially when the Vikings have one of the longest time-throw metrics in the National Football League. That is one of the reasons why his PFF pass-blocking grade is still higher than average at 67.8.
Robinson's performance has been more than admirable, but the book is out on how to attack him. All you need to do is beat him to the inside when he sets to the outside and that's where most of it comes from.
The other major factor in the gravity of Darrisaw is the left guard spot.
Going into the season, there were a lot of questions about why the Vikings were deciding to ride with Blake Brandel as the starting left guard. They signed him to a three-year, $9.5 million contract and essentially gave him the starting job at left guard.
Considering that the Vikings had to try and find wins on the margins with their nearly $72 million in dead cap. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah decided to make the interior of the offensive line where he would try to win in the margins.
Things looked really good for Brandel to start the season. He was destroying players early and often. He wasn't charted with a single pressure in the first two weeks and six in the first six games when Darrisaw was healthy. Against the Rams, Brandel struggled before and after Darrisaw was injured with four pressures allowed.
In every game without Darrisaw (the last 10), Brandel has been majorly inconsistent. He's allowed 31 pressures over the last 10 games, including a gaudy eight against the Lions. Brandel has struggled in many ways over the last 10 games, especially with stunts and players beating him with inside moves. Those elements are huge in pressuring Darnold.
Now, is it all Darrisaw's injury that's been a big factor in Brandel's lack of success? Not at all. However, when you have someone as dominant as Darrisaw next to you, your job is significantly easier than it would be without him and Brandel's drop in production can be partially attributed to the loss of Darrisaw.
The Vikings sit at a crossroads going into the offseason. Do they want to run it back on the offensive line with a healthy Darrisaw or do they choose to upgrade both left and right guard, as the other side is already in a position to be upgraded this offseason?
No matter what the decision is, his performance has raised a lot of questions about the future of the offensive line and proven once again how great Darrisaw is at left tackle.
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