3 Things the Vikings Could Learn From the Divisional Round
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The joke is always that a team that isn’t in the playoffs is watching the games on the couch. Are they? Maybe, maybe not, but for the Minnesota Vikings’ sake, their decision-makers better have watched the Divisional Round. In a copycat league, it’s important to keep up with what’s working and what’s not, and we have three distinct trends that Minnesota should look into entering next season.
A Changing Of the Guards Is Necessary
The Minnesota Vikings’ season came to an end partly because their offensive line was exposed. No one’s saying that center Garrett Bradbury and guards Dalton Risner and Blake Brandel couldn’t get it done in the regular season. But in the playoffs, it was a different story. While Cam Robinson and Brian O’Neill stole the show with especially tough nights, Risner and Brandel combined to allow 10 pressures in the Wild Card round.
Look at the winners in the Divisional Round, and you won’t see struggles on the interior offensive line for the teams that advanced:
Detroit Lions: 73.2
Philadelphia Eagles: 70.1
Buffalo Bills: 64.5
Washington Commanders: 59.8
Kansas City Chiefs: 59.4
Houston Texans: 59.1
Los Angeles Rams: 58.9
Baltimore Ravens: 58.3
When we average out the PFF grades of the interior lines this weekend, we can see that the team that controlled the middle won three of the four games this weekend, and the one deviation — the Commanders upsetting the Lions — was a game where Detroit suffered a minus-5 turnover margin.
Philadelphia and Detroit’s best players on offense were both guards: Landon Dickerson (94.0 PFF grade) and Christian Mahogany (92.2). O’Cyrus Torrence was Buffalo’s third-best offensive player (74.3), and center Creed Humphrey (70.0) was Kansas City’s third-highest-graded offensive player.
Kevin O’Connell singled out the interior offensive line as an area for improvement after Minnesota’s Wild Card loss. If Kwesi Adofo-Mensah didn’t get the message then, he should have it by now.
They Have To Close the Running Game Gap
2024 was the Year of the Running Back Resurgeance, and that trend continued into the playoffs. Whether it was Saquon Barkley (205 yards, two TDs), Jahmyr Gibbs (105 yards, two TDs), or Brian Robinson Jr. (77 yards, two TDs), there were huge games galore this weekend. The eight teams averaged 162.7 yards on the ground, with the Chiefs (50 yards) being the only team that didn’t generate 140 rushing yards.
Again, the Chiefs are the exception, but three of the four teams left standing were second (Philadelphia), third (Washington), and ninth (Buffalo) in rushing yards in the regular season. The Vikings were way down at No. 19. Aaron Jones had a career-high 1,138 yards, but his effectiveness tailed off at the end of the season. Beyond him, O’Connell didn’t seem to trust either Ty Chandler or Cam Akers with any sort of workload.
Either Jones or Akers should be welcomed back at the right price, but it’s clear that the days of ignoring the running game and assuming all will be well are over. The Vikings have to add running back talent in free agency or via the draft, and those much-needed interior offensive line upgrades can only help, too.
KOC Might Have Too Much On His Plate
This is probably the most controversial takeaway from Division Round weekend, but look at the coaches of each of these teams, and you’ll see how few of them actually call their own plays.
Andy Reid (who won) and Sean McVay (who lost) both call the shots for their offenses. Reid arguably has a resume good enough to go into the Hall of Fame both as an Eagle and Chief, while McVay has a Super Bowl ring himself and is one of the architects of the NFL’s most popular offensive formula. Who’s gonna say they shouldn’t keep doing their thing?
But O’Connell? He’s a heralded offensive mind, and there’s no denying what he’s been able to do to maximize his players. His offensive scheme is solid, but his play-calling can get suspect, and his stubbornness in sticking to his own orthodoxies is a big part of the Vikings falling flat in Week 18 and the playoffs.
KOC’s an incredible head coach, and he more than deserves the extension he got on Tuesday. His players are ride-or-die for him, and his ability to win close games is nearly unmatched in NFL history. O’Connell should absolutely keep a say in the offensive scheme, game-planning, and even scripting. But maybe it’s just a bit too much for him to also call every play, and he (and Minnesota) might be best served having someone else take on that duty.
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