Was Sunday's Vikings' Loss A Blip, Or Sign Of Troubles Ahead?
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (WCCO) -- A day after the Vikings' first loss of the season, their biggest problem remained obvious: A patchwork offensive line that gave up six sacks and allowed Sam Bradford to get hit 19 times against the Eagles.
"We're trying to figure out everything right now," coach Mike Zimmer said. "This is a gut-check day."
After Sunday's game, his offensive linemen said improvement is needed.
"We have to do better up front," tackle T.J. Clemmings said. "There's no secret to it. We can't let our quarterback get hit that many times. That's not good for any football team."
"If we want to be the team we think we want to be," said guard Alex Boone, "we have to be way better."
So how do you fix it? Zimmer said Monday it's got to be a combination of players playing better and coaches scheming better – possibly with extra blockers to help the linemen out.
"I pride myself on knowing protections," Zimmer said. "So I've got a pretty good idea on protections and how to help things, so we're going to see what we can do."
Two weeks after signing Jake Long – and having to clear cap space to do it – the Vikings have made it clear that help is not going to come in the form of any more new players. These are the guys they've got.
So what gives Zimmer confidence he can fix the problems, with this personnel?
"The confidence? I don't know," Zimmer said. "But I do have faith in this football team. And obviously, faith is belief without proof. Right now I don't have any proof, so I have to faith that we'll get it done. And I think we will. But, until we prove it, it's just throwing stuff against the wall."
