The Minnesota Vikings head to Mile High to take on the Denver Broncos for their final preseason game. The season will start for real in two weeks.

3 Things That Need To Improve in the Vikings Final Preseason Game

The first two games of the Vikings’ preseason were both low-scoring games, where the defense looked to be continuing from where they left off last season (but slightly worryingly, so has the offense). Here are three things that I would like to see improve in the Vikings’ final preseason game.

The Run Game

We haven’t seen the starting offensive line or Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason since early in the game against the Giants. Minnesota did run the ball well with Jones having three rushes for 27 yards and Mason three rushes for 17 yards. That does come with the caveat that the Giants were shorthanded in the middle of their defensive line that day, but the Vikings did well to take advantage. Demond Claiborne was unable to have the same success with 12 rushes for 34 yards. 

We also saw the all-too-familiar failure to punch the ball in at the goal line, with Claiborne rushing three times for no gain. Minnesota was saved by a couple of penalty flags and an excellent throw and catch between Carson Wentz and Myles Price. Claiborne struggled again against a good Baltimore Ravens defense, while Zavier Scott got more opportunities and averaged a respectable 4 yards per carry. The rushing attack has always been the poor complement to Kevin O’Connell’s passing attack since he became Vikings head coach, but we need to see improvement.

I have confidence in the starting offensive line – outside of the center position – but as we saw last season injuries happen and the backup players need to show they can at least be physical and keep the run game intact. Likewise, Jones is at the stage of his career where injuries have become a regular occurrence. Scott and Claiborne need to be ready to step up; both have the chance to stake their claim as the next in line during the final preseason game.

Special Teams Penalties

If you are anything like me, the sight of those yellow penalty flags on what seemed like every Vikings punt return last season probably drove you to the brink of insanity. Every time it looked like a good return had us in some good field position, there was the yellow marker and we were marching backwards. It’s something that has to improve this season and the early signs from the preseason outings are not good.

I have already seen enough of it this preseason that I’m wondering what efforts have actually been made to remedy this very obvious problem from last season. Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels should be under pressure to fix this problem and I want to see a clean game in Denver to at least alleviate some of my fears that this is going to be a major issue again. Minnesota has some talent returned in Price and Tai Felton but they are being rendered almost useless because of penalty flags.

Score Some Points

It’s only the preseason and the results don’t matter. With the majority of what will be the Vikings starters sitting out most of the preseason games, it’s mostly about players fighting for the final roster places. However, watching the Vikings offense struggle to put points on the board hasn’t exactly been fun. With just 13 points against the Giants and 3 points against the Ravens, that’s a combined 16 points over two games. A paltry effort by any standards.

While there have been standout moments from young players on the defense, there has been a lot of struggle on offense. Price has been one exception, but the QB play hasn’t been great, the backup offensive linemen have really struggled, and the rushing attack hasn’t got anything going. It doesn’t lead to much confidence in these backup players if they are required to step up once the regular season has started. I want to see the offense firing whoever is on the field.

Proud UK Viking. Family Man. Enjoy writing about my team. Away from football an advocate for autism acceptance.