2 Pressing Questions for 2025
1. How will the Vikings address interior
Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell said following the Wild Card loss there’s “no question” the interior pass rush was a problem throughout the 2024 campaign and will need to be addressed.
He also noted, however, there are multiple ways to improve in that area. Minnesota could sign new players, move players around, find options in the draft, promote current players who have been developing, work on QB timing or implement different coaching techniques.
“We’ve got to find a way to be able to give a quarterback, especially with players like Justin, Jordan and T.J. Hockenson, we’ve got to find a way to solidify just the interior of the pocket starting first and foremost. There could be a thousand excuses made, whether it’s losing C.D. (Darrisaw) or even midway through the [playoff] game losing B.O. (O’Neill),” O’Connell said. “For me, it’s the foundation of the interior of the pocket that we’re going to have to take a long look at. I thought those guys battled. That’s a good, young, fast athletic front. Really, when you look at it over the course of the entirety of the season, we lost to two football teams, and both of them were able to do some similar things against us via pressure, via some four-down pressure, non-pressure and non-blitz pressure.
“We just weren’t able to ever find that rhythm, find those two or three plays that can kind of take a little bit of the steam out of what they’re doing and sustain a little bit,” he continued. “That’s a lot of different things. That’s a lot of things that we’re going to take a look at and acknowledge the things we did well in those games throughout the year, but there’s no question that to get to where we want to get to and where our fans deserve for us to go to … we’ve got to find a way [to improve].”