Post Mortems re:2023
1. UFA Bust of '23: Marcus DavenportEdge rusher Marcus Davenport was an injury-prone underachiever when General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah gave him $13 million for 2023. Sixteen free agents got deals averaging at least that much. The other 15 were averaging 746 snaps and 15 games played entering Week 18. Davenport played 118 snaps in four games, underachieving and landing on injured reserve long ago. A cap-strapped team needed a shrewd signing for Brian Flores' pressure-based defense. Davenport's salary matched that of Green Bay's Preston Smith, who entered Week 18 with eight sacks, 696 snaps and 16 starts. Meanwhile, former Viking Za'Darius Smith, traded to Cleveland, entered Week 18 with 16 starts for a playoff team. His salary: $11.7 million.
2. O'Connell's run-game whiffCoach Kevin O'Connell's No. 1 offseason priority was a more efficient running game. He whiffed. Big time. The Vikings' seven rushing touchdowns tied 1996 and 1962 for the fewest in a nonstrike year in franchise history. Their 393 carries were the seventh fewest, their 1,553 yards the eighth fewest and their 3.95 average the fourth worst since 1997. O'Connell overestimated Alexander Mattison's value as a first-year starter and took way too long to move Ty Chandler to lead back. With a 5.8-yard average on 12 carries Sunday, Chandler finished with a 4.5 average but only 102 carries, 53 of them in the last four games, his only starts of the season.
3. Lions O-line outclasses VikingsStrength at the line of scrimmage separates Detroit from Minnesota. The Lions finished top five in passing and rushing for the first time since winning their last NFL title in 1957. They swept the Vikings for the first time since 2016 while controlling both games with their offensive line. Detroit is the only NFL team to rank top five in passing, rushing, total offense, scoring and fewest sacks allowed. The Lions ran for 27 touchdowns, passed for 30 and have the league's 10th youngest roster coached by a swashbuckler (Dan Campbell) who has successfully gone for it on fourth down in 10 of his last 12 tries against the Vikings.
4. Historically awful turnoversMercifully, the final numbers are in for one of the sloppiest turnover-filled efforts in team history. The differential of minus-12 ties 2013 — the year Leslie Frazier was fired — for fifth worst. The 34 turnovers are the most since 37 in 2010 — the year Brad Childress was fired. Yes, Flores' defense fell from the top five in points allowed through 13 games to the bottom four in the last four games. But this defense played well enough overall to help this team reach the playoffs. The offense threw it away. Literally. The defense allowed the fewest points (362) since 2019 but did have fewer takeaways (25-22) than demonized Ed Donatell's one-and-done 2022 season.
5. Purple brain trust safe … for nowO'Connell and Adofo-Mensah's jobs are safe for 2024, as they should be. They'd be wise, however, not to feel too comfortable. This is, after all, a 32-team league that's made 34 coaching changes since 2020 and will add to that list — perhaps even Bill Belichick himself — come Black Monday. Kirk Cousins' injury buys some sympathy but can't excuse away all that ailed this team as one of the league's bigger disappointments. Remember, Cousins was 4-4 with nine turnovers. No team fell harder in 2023 than the Vikings. Their six-win drop-off was the worst in the league. The Panthers and Chargers — who fired coaches in-season — had five-win drop-offs.
https://www.startribune.com/mark-craig-five-extra-points-vikings-marcus-davenport-alexander-mattison-kevin-oconnell/600333133/
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
We need to see better drafting
They gotta get qbotf right
They need to hire a legit OC or evolve the role of the current one
This is the most important off-season in probably a decade.
Mark Craig, lol. I tell you, the Twin Cities sure has some winners as sportswriters.
Almost everything offensively went into the toilet when Cousins went down. People forgetting that Minnesota handled the 49ers? If you can't pass, you can't run. You turn the ball over, you can't win. Where does he talk about the onslaught of injuries the team endured? IMO, just knee jerk garbage writing.
@"StickyBun" said: Mark Craig, lol. I tell you, the Twin Cities sure has some winners as sportswriters.Almost everything offensively went into the toilet when Cousins went down. People forgetting that Minnesota handled the 49ers? If you can't pass, you can't run. You turn the ball over, you can't win. Where does he talk about the onslaught of injuries the team endured? IMO, just knee jerk garbage writing.
werent the 9ers a mash unit when we played them? Seems they were down some pretty big names on both sides of the ball IIRC. a win is a win, but maybe that one should have had an asterisk next to it. kind of like our 22 season where we caught several decent teams on back up QBs, the wins still counted, but we certainly werent as good as our record indicated.
@"JimmyinSD" said:@"StickyBun" said: Mark Craig, lol. I tell you, the Twin Cities sure has some winners as sportswriters.Almost everything offensively went into the toilet when Cousins went down. People forgetting that Minnesota handled the 49ers? If you can't pass, you can't run. You turn the ball over, you can't win. Where does he talk about the onslaught of injuries the team endured? IMO, just knee jerk garbage writing.
werent the 9ers a mash unit when we played them? Seems they were down some pretty big names on both sides of the ball IIRC. a win is a win, but maybe that one should have had an asterisk next to it. kind of like our 22 season where we caught several decent teams on back up QBs, the wins still counted, but we certainly werent as good as our record indicated.
Mash unit? They were without Deebo Samuel. Vikings were without JJ. Trent Williams didn't play and neither did Ezra Cleveland for Minnesota.
With our Cap situation there wasn't much room for error and the Davenport didn't fit well in that room. They ran a graphic on the Charger game that showed like six players and made a reference to the percentage of cap space they represented. Between Bosa, Mack, Allen, Williams and Herbert didn't leave much for the lower 48.
Agree with everything in OP’s post, to the point I could have written it myself! In fact I did post 1-2 as the biggest failings for this team a couple weeks ago.
However, there’s positives too.
Bynum, Pace Jr, and Metellus are players we can count on next year where before there were question marks.
Ingram improved as well and Oliver— although costly— continues to impress on the rare chances he gets the ball.
CJ Ham and Harrison Smith have been stalwarts but the sun is setting on them. That’s not a good thing in itself but it creates cap room for us.
Addison looks very good and JJ is still all-world. Love having them on the team. Powell looks like he can be WR3.
Ty Chandler is signed for two more seasons at peanuts.
KO continues to design awesome plays and Flores was a gift at DC. Hopefully Flo returns.
For a disappointing season there were plenty of bright spots to smile about.
@"pattersaur" said: Agree with everything in OP’s post, to the point I could have written it myself! In fact I did post 1-2 as the biggest failings for this team a couple weeks ago.However, there’s positives too.
Bynum, Pace Jr, and Metellus are players we can count on next year where before there were question marks.
Ingram improved as well and Oliver— although costly— continues to impress on the rare chances he gets the ball.
CJ Ham and Harrison Smith have been stalwarts but the sun is setting on them. That’s not a good thing in itself but it creates cap room for us.
Addison looks very good and JJ is still all-world. Love having them on the team. Powell looks like he can be WR3.
Ty Chandler is signed for two more seasons at peanuts.
KO continues to design awesome plays and Flores was a gift at DC. Hopefully Flo returns.
For a disappointing season there were plenty of bright spots to smile about.
Agree with everything here except Oliver. I just dont see the return vs the $. Not as bad a bust as Davenport, but not a significant impact signing.
@"StickyBun" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:@"StickyBun" said: Mark Craig, lol. I tell you, the Twin Cities sure has some winners as sportswriters.Almost everything offensively went into the toilet when Cousins went down. People forgetting that Minnesota handled the 49ers? If you can't pass, you can't run. You turn the ball over, you can't win. Where does he talk about the onslaught of injuries the team endured? IMO, just knee jerk garbage writing.
werent the 9ers a mash unit when we played them? Seems they were down some pretty big names on both sides of the ball IIRC. a win is a win, but maybe that one should have had an asterisk next to it. kind of like our 22 season where we caught several decent teams on back up QBs, the wins still counted, but we certainly werent as good as our record indicated.
Mash unit? They were without Deebo Samuel. Vikings were without JJ. Trent Williams didn't play and neither did Ezra Cleveland for Minnesota.
wasnt McCaffrey out or limited as well? Seems there was 2 regulars on both sides of the ball that were out or extremely limited at that time. and did we really miss Ezra?
@"JimmyinSD" said:@"StickyBun" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:@"StickyBun" said: Mark Craig, lol. I tell you, the Twin Cities sure has some winners as sportswriters.Almost everything offensively went into the toilet when Cousins went down. People forgetting that Minnesota handled the 49ers? If you can't pass, you can't run. You turn the ball over, you can't win. Where does he talk about the onslaught of injuries the team endured? IMO, just knee jerk garbage writing.
werent the 9ers a mash unit when we played them? Seems they were down some pretty big names on both sides of the ball IIRC. a win is a win, but maybe that one should have had an asterisk next to it. kind of like our 22 season where we caught several decent teams on back up QBs, the wins still counted, but we certainly werent as good as our record indicated.
Mash unit? They were without Deebo Samuel. Vikings were without JJ. Trent Williams didn't play and neither did Ezra Cleveland for Minnesota.
wasnt McCaffrey out or limited as well? Seems there was 2 regulars on both sides of the ball that were out or extremely limited at that time. and did we really miss Ezra?
https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore/_/gameId/401547495
Only a Vikings beat writer would do a post-mortem and list only the negatives.
@"StickyBun" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:@"StickyBun" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:@"StickyBun" said: Mark Craig, lol. I tell you, the Twin Cities sure has some winners as sportswriters.Almost everything offensively went into the toilet when Cousins went down. People forgetting that Minnesota handled the 49ers? If you can't pass, you can't run. You turn the ball over, you can't win. Where does he talk about the onslaught of injuries the team endured? IMO, just knee jerk garbage writing.
werent the 9ers a mash unit when we played them? Seems they were down some pretty big names on both sides of the ball IIRC. a win is a win, but maybe that one should have had an asterisk next to it. kind of like our 22 season where we caught several decent teams on back up QBs, the wins still counted, but we certainly werent as good as our record indicated.
Mash unit? They were without Deebo Samuel. Vikings were without JJ. Trent Williams didn't play and neither did Ezra Cleveland for Minnesota.
wasnt McCaffrey out or limited as well? Seems there was 2 regulars on both sides of the ball that were out or extremely limited at that time. and did we really miss Ezra?
https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore/_/gameId/401547495
yep he played, but had left the previous weeks game with an oblique injury that was obviously still an issue for him as he was pedestrian for the following game as well, then they had a bye and his production returned to normal after that. I am sure Flores game planned for him and that was part of the equation, but we didnt see a healthy CM, and them not having Deebo out there was a saving grace for a team that really struggled in pass defense at times this year when opposing teams had multiple weapons to account for.
I just wish they could compete in the playoffs, not win regular season Super Bowl games once a year. Need to start drafting and developing better or nothing will matter, especially if you are going to keep running it back with Kirk forever and ever.
Spot on analysis by Craig. They need to draft a QB and run with him next year, that will give KAM/KOC cover to keep their jobs into year 4. They need to hit a home run this off-season or the team is going to dwell in the cellar until the next coach/g.m. change.
@"comet52" said: Spot on analysis by Craig. They need to draft a QB and run with him next year, that will give KAM/KOC cover to keep their jobs into year 4. They need to hit a home run this off-season or the team is going to dwell in the cellar until the next coach/g.m. change.this offseason IMO is going to write the book on KAM, not just the draft, but filling holes in the coaching ranks, filling holes in the roster through FA and draft. this year could be a career defining moment for KAM. for the most part any cap issues he has this year are his own doing, so how he is able to fill the cupboard is now entirely on him.
Davenport was certainly a bust as a free agent but don't forget about Dean Lowery. He signed a two year contract for $8.5 million plus a $3 million signing bonus. I think its a tie between those two.
Did I read that right that Bradbury had a pff pass blocking grade of “0” vs the FudgePackers…? Is that even posssible? Put him on the first thing smokin’ immediately!!! :s
@"Kentis" said:Did I read that right that Bradbury had a pff pass blocking grade of “0” vs the FudgePackers…? Is that even posssible? Put him on the first thing smokin’ immediately!!! :s
I havent seen the growth that others see, when I focus on him it seems he is either part of a double team, or he is getting worked. and when he is part of a double team its often the OGs whole that we see a free runner come through.
@"JimmyinSD" said:@"Kentis" said:Did I read that right that Bradbury had a pff pass blocking grade of “0” vs the FudgePackers…? Is that even posssible? Put him on the first thing smokin’ immediately!!! :s
I havent seen the growth that others see, when I focus on him it seems he is either part of a double team, or he is getting work. and when he is part of a double team its often the OGs whole that we see a free runner come through.Well I think said growth evaporated when the ink dried on that ill advised extension…! I believe they did however leave an out, & they’d better exercise it currently!
@"Kentis" said:Did I read that right that Bradbury had a pff pass blocking grade of “0” vs the FudgePackers…? Is that even posssible? Put him on the first thing smokin’ immediately!!! :s
I don't think it was 0. I think it was 5 or something. But yeah, it was horrible.
He started well. Before Cousins went down (week 8) there was only one offensive lineman in the NFL with 100+ pass pro snaps to not allow a single pressure. Bradbury. His PFF grade at that point was above average as well.
Guessing the switch from Cousins to a 3 QB rotation took its toll.
1. UFA Bust of '23: Marcus DavenportIMO he is wrecking his own game with bad habits. Kwesi got scammed.
2. O'Connell's run-game whiffTop 5? pair of OT's ,a battering ram at FB , 2 of the top TE's in the NFL? and KOC never exploited the edges ?
3. Lions O-line outclasses VikingsVikings have been drawing dead @ Oline since 2009 . They're inconsistent
4. Historically awful turnoversThat's fundamentals.
Flo needed more players this season. The roster didn't have 'em.
5. Purple brain trust safe … for nowBad drafts happen , 2024 will mark year 3 of 2022 draft. if they're all whiffs, that's gonna show up in the Wins and Losses.
Like the salary cap, eventually bad drafts catch up with every team.
https://www.startribune.com/mark-craig-five-extra-points-vikings-marcus-davenport-alexander-mattison-kevin-oconnell/600333133/
Edit Post (mod action — author will see a notice)
Warn Poster
Suspend User (3 days)
The user will be suspended for 3 days and will receive an email with the reason and information about how to appeal.