After an embarrassing loss to the Green Bay Packers last week the Minnesota Vikings showed no signs of improvement in their first road trip of the season. Ultimately losing 28-11, the Vikings had one of the worst performances in the Mike Zimmer era.
The first drive of the game was solid, but the Colts stopped the Vikings for an early field goal. After that field goal the Colts went on to score 28 unanswered points and that was all it took. The Vikings offense was unable to find rhythm after the first drive and gave up its second safety in consecutive weeks.
Kirk Cousins had one of his worst games in a Vikings jersey finishing 11 for 26 for 113 yards and three interceptions. He finished his day with a rating of 15.9, whereas a quarterback that drops back and spikes the ball every play would have a rating of 39.6.
Cousins has had his fair share of ups and downs since joining Minnesota in 2018, but this has to be one of the lowest points in the last three seasons. These numbers came after the Colts starting cornerback Rock Ya-Sin didn’t play due to illness and Xavier Rhodes also left the game with an injury.
The defense played better than it did last week, but it’s still a long ways away from what Vikings fans are used to seeing out of a Zimmer led unit. Anthony Barr went down with an injury that led to sloppy play out of Eric Wilson.
It’s hard to find any positives from this game, but the Vikings cornerbacks played with more physicality. Although this happened to cause a few penalties for the defense, it was good to see the unit playing more aggressive than they did against Green Bay.
One of those penalties came against rookie cornerback Jeff Gladney who had some good coverage snaps in his first game seeing prominent playing time. The cornerbacks unit was awful against the Packers last week, but it could be one of the most fun positions to see grow as Cameron Dantzler gets healthy.
The Vikings find themselves in a position that isn’t common under Zimmer. Now 0-2 on the season, the team’s schedule doesn’t look to get any easier. The next three weeks are against playoff teams from 2019, so things could get even uglier.
If the Vikings somehow find their way into a top five pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, it might be time to take a chance on a franchise quarterback. Although Cousins has been solid for the most part, Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields both have the chance to be excellent at the next level. The Chiefs had Alex Smith before drafting Patrick Mahomes and that has certainly worked out in their favor.