Bad quickly went to worse for the Vikings on Thursday Night Football.
The offense struggled to move the football, the defense failed to get off the field, and special teams was flagged on each of its first two kick returns and had a misfire on the final play of the first half.
Add it all up, and Minnesota trailed the Los Angeles Chargers by 18 points at halftime in an eventual 37-10 loss.
“Nothing much to say. We got outplayed. We got outcoached. … There are no excuses. Injuries, short week, whatever it is, that is not in any way, shape or form, our standard of what we want to put on the field,” Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell said. “As I told our team, we’ve got an opportunity in front of us where we need to own this. This is not a bury-the-tape kind of time for our organization. This is a watch it, view it, own it, every coach, every player, and it starts with me. I did not have our team prepared to play.”
Oh, and left tackle Christian Darrisaw, who had started at left tackle despite the short rest, and Josh Oliver left the game in the second quarter with knee and foot injuries.
O’Connell commended Darrisaw for trying to give it a go on short rest “after such a catastrophic, significant knee injury a year ago.” He said an X-ray of Oliver’s right foot was negative but the tight end will undergo an MRI.