Compared to the first two preseason games, the Vikings showed some life in the third preseason game. Finally. Most of that life came in the second half when it was backups vs backups. The offense finally scored a touchdown. That’s a good thing. The offense even scored a second touchdown. That’s an even better thing. Those were the Vikings first two offensive touchdowns of the preseason. Both came in the second half of the final preseason game.
The Vikings offense had a nice first drive that bogged down inside the Chiefs 10-yard line. They had to settle for a field goal. This was an offense without Dalvin Cook, Alexander Mattison, Justin Jefferson, and Adam Thielen. Kirk Cousins was on the field. Of his top weapons, only Irv Smith Jr. was on the field with him.
After that first drive, the offense did nothing, or worse, until the third quarter.
Patrick Mahomes had his way with a Vikings defense that didn’t have Danielle Hunter, Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr, Patrick Peterson, and Harrison Smith. Despite the absence of the defensive leaders, it’d still be nice to have see better tackling, better communication. Especially against Mahomes. It was too easy for him.
The defensive backups did an ok job against the Chiefs backups. That ok job allowed the Vikings to come back from a 21-3 deficit.
Rookie quarterback Kellen Mond got out of a few difficult situations. Third-and-longs, fourth downs. His mistakes put him in a few of those situations. It may have been a little sloppy game but stat-wise, Mond put together a respectable-looking game.
16/23, 196 yards.
An interception on his third play was a blemish.
Throughout the offseason workouts, training camp, and preseason, I’ve had the Vikings keeping three quarterbacks.
Kirk Cousins
Jake Browning
Kellen Mond
Mond doing something and Jake Browning doing about nothing might lead the Vikings to keep only two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster.
Kirk Cousins
Kellen Mond
As for the preseason as a whole, this hasn’t been a very good one for the Vikings.
Broncos-terrible
Colts-offense terrible/defense fine
Chiefs-mixed, 28-25 looks ok
I’m not sure what you can take from the Minnesota Vikings 2021 Preseason. Very little went right. How could it? The offense runs through Dalvin Cook. He didn’t take a snap. Alexander Mattison is RB2. He only took a handful of snaps. Justin Jefferson didn’t play. Adam Thielen played fewer snaps than Mattison. How could the Vikings offense possibly look like the offense that we want to see if the playmakers never played? Still, you want to see something positive. The only offensive positives were the two touchdown drives that Mond led when it was backups vs backups against the Chiefs. The defense? There was never more than a few starters on the field at the same time. It’s tough to see what we want to see when the players that we want to see aren’t on the field.
Great preseason play has never been a guarantee of anything. That little blanket is often hauled out after poor preseason play. The only games that matter are those that haven’t been played. I believe that the Minnesota Vikings will be fine when all of the starters are actually playing together. My biggest concern right now isn’t the poor preseason play. It’s the Week 1 availability, or early season availability, of Anthony Barr, Christian Darrisaw, and Tyler Conklin. The sooner that all of the best players are on the football field the better.
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