The Vikings fell to the 49ers 17-7 in preseason football on Saturday. Scores don’t really matter in preseason, but individual performances and camp battles do matter and are the reason that I enjoy watching preseason football. Overall, the Vikings offense looked poor, and never really got into any sort of rhythm. The defense looked okay, and got some turnovers and stops in big situations. They also allowed a lot of yardage, but the lack of an offensive attack surely played into that. To give you an idea of how poorly the Vikings controlled the ball, the time of possession was 37:45 for the 49ers, compared to 22:15 for the Vikings. Sheesh.
There are several areas on the Vikings where we pay particular interest: offensive line, QB2, CB, and the TE position. So, what did we see?
Offensive line
Again in this game, the offensive line seemed to hold their own. In comparison to what we’ve watched for the past 5+ years from the Vikings offensive line, this offensive line is much less offensive. Seriously, this is the best our O line has looked in a long time, probably since 2013.
QB2
Mannion actually looked better than Mond in this game. Mond wasn’t terrible, but made two horrible mistakes that both became interceptions. Besides those two plays (Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?), Mond looked fairly sharp, although the tight ends and wide receivers had several dropped passes. In the end, let’s just say that I wouldn’t be surprised if the QB2 isn’t currently on the roster.
CB
Good play was overshadowed by the injury to Booth Jr. Booth had been playing well, and was likely going to be the 3rd CB behind Peterson and Dantzler, so let’s hope he recovers quickly from what appears to be an ankle injury.
TE
The tight end depth got some reps with Irv Smith Jr. out, and none of them really stood out to make a case to get more playing time. Davidson dropped a pass or two, and Ellefson made two catches for 8 yards. Not a lot to get excited about here.
Other observations
- The Vikings have solid depth on the defensive line
- TY McGill is having a tremendous camp, and Patrick Jones II is looking good as well
- Ingram has played his way into a starting role on the offensive line, in my opinion
- If the team is going to look elsewhere for QB2, they need to get that done ASAP
- Brian Asamoah and Josh Metellus are both having an impressive camp thus far
Asamoah is one of those guys that always seems to be around the ball carrier. I like him.
I also think Evans looked better this week at CB.
Good analysis. That’s what I saw, as well.
It was offensive and….
Mond had at least one other duck that luckily wasn’t intercepted. After looking good vs the Raiders, he didn’t impress at all.
Yeah, that one he threw out of bounds was also a duck, but he got it far enough out where it couldn’t be intercepted. He flashes at times, but he has to eliminate those mistakes, because you can’t do that shit 2 or 3 times a game.