Coming off their first shutout loss in 18 years, the Minnesota Vikings are striving to create a simplified offense for J.J. McCarthy after the team failed to score a touchdown and turned the ball over eight times in the past two games.
“It’s purely about decision-making at this point,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said this week. “I want [McCarthy] to have a clear head and a clear mind to just go play, but play with an understanding of the decisions that I make … have to be of the utmost importance, because we learned our turnover number is where it is. It’s not a winning formula.”
This move to simplify the offense is wise after neither McCarthy nor Max Brosmer seemed capable of operating O’Connell’s offense.
However, the move has been met with mixed reviews in the locker room.
Vikings Pro Bowl TE TJ Hockenson Unhappy With Simplifying Offense Amid JJ McCarthy Struggles
GettyVikings tight end T.J. Hockenson
Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson spoke with local media on Thursday, December 5, about the decision to pare down the playbook to help the offense take off ahead of a Week 14 matchup against the Washington Commanders — and he wasn’t too thrilled.
“We’re professionals here. We never like when you have to make things simple for us. That’s not something that we want,” Hockenson said.
“The way our offense has been going, we’ve got to do something. That’s something [O’Connell has] really emphasized. Just trying to make it a little simpler. … You never want that as a competitor. You want to do more, you always want more, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to get this ship moving. We’ve got to improve.”
Aaron Jones Pushes Back on Vikings Offense’s Complexity
Vikings running back Aaron Jones shared a similar sentiment about the team simplifying the offense at this stage of the season.
While he said after practice that the offense isn’t “too vanilla,” he admitted that there is a significant difference.
“Where it gets complex, where everybody may not have the same deeper understanding of each play concept, is where we’ve, I guess, in a way dumbed it down,” Jones said this week. “Kind of took the meat of it off, but you’re still getting a lot of everything.
“To me, it’s not complicated. I’ve been playing football my whole life. But to some people, it’s like learning a new language,” Jones added.
What Does Simplifying the Offense Mean for Vikings?
What will the offense look like this week?
There will likely be a larger commitment to the run, but that requires efficiency, which hasn’t been easy to find this season.
While ranking 11th in yards per rush (4.6), the Vikings have struggled to effectively piece those runs together to help sustain drives. They rank 32nd in time of possession and plays through 13 weeks.
If the Vikings can find the running game, opportunities will arrive in the passing game by creating play-action and bootleg opportunities for McCarthy. Those plays, where McCarthy takes the ball under center, have a clear design and fewer reads, putting McCarthy in a position to take what’s given versus reading option routes from receivers.
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