PurplePTSD: Has The Vikings Offense Changed Its Ways?

Press release from the PurplePTSD:

Noah Moore

2021-11-16

The Minnesota Vikings bounced back from a series of disappointing performances, defeating the Los Angeles Chargers by a score of 27-20. The Vikings offense was a main reason why. One limiting factor during the recent losing streak was the offense’s inability to move the ball and to stay on the field. This week’s performance was much improved, as the Vikings converted in clutch situations and put up enough points to best the Chargers, despite almost half of the starting defense missing the game due to injuries. The question is: what did the Vikings do differently this week to revive the offense?The Vikings made a couple of noticeable changes to this week’s game plan.First of all, head coach Mike Zimmer seemed to listen to the fanbase, or maybe just common sense, and chose to be more aggressive this week. Coming into the game, many Vikings fans complained about the general lack of aggressiveness and a sense of complacency on the offensive side of the ball after they blew several double digit leads in games which they should have won. Zimmer is known for making conservative calls, playing for field goals instead of touchdowns, punting the ball away rather than risking a turnover on downs, and keeping the ball on the ground on offense to reduce turnovers and to keep the clock moving. Against the Chargers, they flipped this approach upside down. The entire focus of the game plan was to be more aggressive. Zimmer admitted as much in the post game press conference, saying: “I just told the team, ‘We’re going to be aggressive.’ If we get beat because we run a fake punt and don’t get it, then we just have to suck it up and stop them on defense.”

This press release was produced by the PurplePTSD. The views expressed here are the author’s own.