Minnesota Vikings: Offensive Line Deficiency Finally Causes Collapse

The Minnesota Vikings looked miserable all game in their Week 7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, but the offensive line’s collapse may be the most important.

A lot of attention will be on Marcus Sherels‘ fumble, Sam Bradford‘s first interception, and the other Bradford fumbles in the Minnesota Vikings’ first loss of the season. Those flashy four turnovers are important, but the most critical issue appears to be with the big guys up front.

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According to Pro Football Focus’ statistics, Bradford was under pressure on 20 of his 47 dropbacks in Week 7. When under pressure, he completed just 35.7 percent of his passes.

In short, Bradford became a non-factor with pressure in his face. This was especially important for a team that has relied on his mistake-free play to stay competitive behind an excellent defense. What we saw from all that pressure was plenty of mistakes.

In the game, Bradford had four fumbles while being sacked six times. He was lucky he only lost two of those fumbles. He was also lucky that some of the pass deflections on his errant throws didn’t become interceptions. The offensive line simply wasn’t able to protect him in this game. And who can blame them?

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The Minnesota Vikings injury report reveals a roster filled with offensive line holes. Three starting offensive linemen are on injured reserve. It’s a miracle that Bradford and the offensive line hasn’t fallen apart sooner.

This goes further than the passing game, though. The offensive line was struggling to open things up on the ground for Adrian Peterson before his injury (also on injured reserve) and the offense is predictably 31st on the ground in total yardage despite attempting to run eighth most in the league. The 2.6 yards per attempt from the Vikings rushing attack is the worst in the NFL.

It’s a testament to Bradford’s fortitude and the coaching staff’s ingenuity that the Vikings haven’t collapsed like this before. They’ve managed to keep this kind of meltdown at bay for long enough but they may finally start to see things unravel.

The Philadelphia Eagles, with intimate knowledge on how Bradford plays, knew what pressure points to hit and laid a blueprint for the rest of the NFL to follow in future games against the Vikings. They manufactured a pass rush, routinely brought different players in, they consistently collapsed the pocket.

That, it turns out, is how you beat the Vikings in 2016. Teams need to find ways to crumple the game around Bradford and force him into mistakes. It’s been easier said than done so far this season, but the Eagles have shown it certainly can be done. This is concerning for the Vikings. They are Super Bowl contenders when they can play mistake-free on offense and focus on the defense winning the game.

Unfortunately, the offensive line may prove to be the Achilles heel of a team that has been dominant most of the time. They’ll definitely still win games and they are good enough to go far, but there will be increased pressure on the offensive line and that could cause problems.

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