Minnesota Vikings: Is it time to hit the panic button after 0-2 start?

After dropping to 0-2, how worried should the Minnesota Vikings be?

Following the ugly season-opening loss to a NFC North opponent in Week 1, many thought it would be hard for the Minnesota Vikings to be even more disappointed after Week 2 on Sunday afternoon.

The Vikings, however, found more ways to raise even more questions on the team going into the third week of the regular season while falling to a winless record of 0-2 overall in the early stages of the year.

In Week 2 on Sunday, Minnesota fell in an even uglier fashion at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts, dropping the road contest in Indianapolis by a score of 28-11. 

For two straight weeks, the Vikings have looked rough on both sides of the ball, which begs the question: Is it time to press the panic button although we are just entering Week 3 of the regular season? It might have to be.

The fact that Minnesota has lost two games to start the year isn’t the concerning part of its winless start to begin the 2020 campaign. Rather, the way the Vikings have lost the two games are the most concerning part, with the team looking nearly lost in both defeats.

For Minnesota, the defense was already a big question mark going into the season after having a decent amount of turnover among that unit this offseason. It hasn’t been incredibly surprising to see that group appear to be dealing with a learning curve with some new faces, especially without having any preseason games to get acclimated to things.

But the Vikings have looked almost worse on the offensive side of the ball, which is the biggest surprise so far. Especially since they are returning basically every player from the offensive end compared to what they had on the roster in 2019.

On both ends of the field, Minnesota looks lost and out of sorts with things. That makes the 0-2 start and falling behind the rest of the NFC and NFL in general that more concerning.

The Minnesota Vikings are struggling in all phases right now.

When it comes to the offense, the Vikings usually rely on the running game led by Dalvin Cook and company. But Minnesota hasn’t really fed him the ball as much as he did even just a year ago. And the passing offense led by Kirk Cousins doesn’t appear to really have any rhythm at all.

While running the fewest offensive plays in the league through two weeks of action, Minnesota has completed 30 of 51 pass attempts for a total of 372 passing yards, which entered Monday as the worst mark in the league for teams that have played in two games.

On the ground, the Vikings have totaled 40 rush attempts for 214 yards, which is 19th in the league.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Vikings have given up 567 yards (fourth-most in the league) while allowing opposing offenses to complete 73.9 percent (fifth-most in NFL) of their passes through the air. In the running game, Minnesota has allowed teams to run for 301 yards on the ground (fifth-most in the league).

On top of those issues on defense, the Vikings are already without star defensive end Danielle Hunter, who was placed on Injured Reserve to star the season, and are now without linebacker Anthony Barr, who was placed on Injured Reserve this week after a Week 2 injury.

Of course, things could still turn around for Minnesota as it is still early on in the season. But sitting at 0-2 and at the bottom of both the NFC North and NFC standings, along with a tough Week 3 opponent this weekend in the Tennessee Titans, it might be time for the Vikings to press the panic button already in the 2020 season.