3 Vikings Storylines
The Vikings locker room was an echo chamber after the six-point loss to Philadelphia.
Players were on the same page – ready to turn the page – and said as much. Cornerback Isaiah Rodgers anticipated leaving an unmemorable game, unlike several incredibly memorable ones he had previously, in the underbelly of U.S. Bank Stadium. Others used similar phrasing, eager to rid their minds of an irking defeat.
Head Coach Kevin O’Connell reminded of the broader picture less than 48 hours removed from that unsavory taste, and a little more than 48 hours until a potential palate cleanser against the Chargers.
“You’re not flushing it from a standpoint of forgetting what happened on Sunday,” he stated Tuesday, adding that staff and players left the stadium with an optimistic outlook despite the negative result. “If you look at it from a standpoint of a lot of the positive things that were done, and then the correctable things that were clearly on the tape, and things for both players and coaches, we’re encouraged. And that’s what sometimes a short week can give you is a chance to take some of that and put it into action.”
Simpler said than done, obviously, and especially so when the next opponent’s quarterback is Justin Herbert, a 6-foot-6, 236-pound purveyor of wicked highlights with a javelin launcher attached to his shoulder.
Herbert bumped up his highwater mark for passing yards in a game with 420 last week, outdoing his previous career-high of 405, which he accomplished against the Vikings in their 2023 competition. In the Chargers loss to the Colts, Herbert became the NFL’s first player with 35-plus completions, 420-plus yards, 3-plus pass TDs and 30-plus rush yards in a defeat. He’s 12-11 in his career in prime time, with 40 TDs and 11 INTs.
When O’Connell was asked about his pre-draft assessment of Herbert, the coach waxed eloquently.
“He’s big. He’s strong. He’s very athletic. I still don’t know if he gets enough credit for his athleticism. I mean, the mobility in Justin’s game is real,” he said of the 2020 No. 6 overall pick. “He can hurt you in the pocket with elite arm strength and accuracy, but then he can clearly make plays with his legs and create to give them extended opportunities at plays down the field, and staying on the field moving the chains.
“We know they want to run the football. We know they want to do a lot of things off that run game,” O’Connell continued. “But the pass game and the weapons they have, both the guys that are known guys and they’ve got some guys really emerging as well on that offensive side getting some real opportunities.
“I just remember seeing a guy that (even) in that spread, no-huddle system at Oregon, you could still see a player with the skill set that would really fit any NFL offense,” he added. “And that’s absolutely become an accurate statement – not only where he’s at, but I think he’s still an ascending player.”
Herbert currently is pacing the NFL in passing attempts (271) and yards (1,913) and owns a 94.5 passer rating, slightly above the league average. His 65.5 QBR, which factors in other elements like designed runs and scrambles, is ninth overall and the second-best figure in his career (70.9 in his 2021 Pro Bowl campaign).
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