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The Minnesota Vikings dropped to 1-3 on the season after a tough, 14-7 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 4. It's not all doom and gloom yet for Mike Zimmer's squad but they'll need to rebound quickly.
Here are three Vikings takeaways falling their loss to the Browns.
1.) This isn't your typical 1-3 team
Minnesota's record is what it is and it will stick to them throughout the week. However, it's hard to not look around the landscape of the NFL and realize that this isn't your typical 1-3 team.
The New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons, Houston Texans and New York Giants are all also 1-3 like the Vikings. Yet compared to Minnesota, those four seem like much more of a dumpster fire scenario than the Vikings.
Close, heartbreaking losses to the Arizona Cardinals (34-33), Cincinnati Bengals (27-24 in overtime) and this one to the Browns have really soured things for the Vikings.
On the optimistic side of things, a matchup with the 0-4 Detroit Lions awaits Minnesota next and will be a perfect opportunity for the Vikings to settle in and pick up a win. The pessimistic end of the spectrum points to a schedule that is pretty brutal throughout the regular season.
Per the Pioneer Press, Zimmer still believes he has a very good team.
“We made a couple too many mistakes to win the game, but I firmly believe that this is a good football team,” Zimmer immediately told reporters at U.S. Bank Stadium.
“I’ve been doing this (for) 27 years,” Zimmer said. “I know good teams and I know bad teams, and I know that this team has a chance to be pretty darn good.”
There's still plenty of time for the Vikings to turn things around but they'll need to be better in close games than what they have displayed so far.
2.) The defense has started to figure it out in a major way
After giving up 17 first half points to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3, the Vikings defense blanked Russell Wilson in the second half of that contest. They followed it up by holding a pretty potent Browns attack to just 14 points, despite the loss.
That's 14 points in the last 6 quarters of play for Zimmer's defense, which has done a nice turnaround after looking lost at times against the Bengals and Cardinals earlier in the year.
So how have they done it? Consistent pressure on the quarterback.
In the second half against the Seahawks, Wilson was running around trying to elude the pass rush of Minnesota. The same happened for Baker Mayfield numerous times in Week 4.
The Vikings tallied 3 sacks on Sunday and got home for plenty more quarterback pressures as they made life super difficult for Mayfield anytime he dropped back to pass.
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Keep in mind this is a Vikings defense that has Danielle Hunter back after he missed last year along with Michael Pierce who opted out and they inked Dalvin Tomlinson in the offseason. That's three havoc wreckers on this year's defensive front that weren't there a year ago.
The secondary is being run by Harrison Smith and Patrick Peterson, two veterans who are still playing at a very high level while paving the way for the younger guys.
Even with the 1-3 mark, Zimmer has to feel very encouraged by the defense putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
3.) Kirk Cousins clean pocket vs. not clean pocket is a difference maker
It's a simple concept to comprehend that quarterbacks play more effectively when they have time to throw and a clean pocket.
With Kirk Cousins, the numbers are drastically different than most other quarterbacks.
The problem for Cousins is that he offers very limited mobility to work outside of the pocket and make plays on the move. So, going up against Myles Garrett, Jadeveon Clowney and the rest of the Browns' front looked like trouble before a snap was even taken.
This isn't a knock against Cousins. In fact, he's played tremendous football in large part this season. His inability to make plays when the pocket breaks down though is something that could prove costly throughout the year. The numbers compared to other quarterbacks are really far apart.
How pressure causes the Vikings offense to crumble:
The offensive line allowed *29* pressures yesterday, per @PFF.
In total, Cousins was pressured on 22 of 41 dropbacks.
When clean: 74%, 8.3 yards per att
When pressured: 32%, 2.4 yards per attempt
— Phil Mackey 🎙 (@PhilMackey) October 4, 2021
A clean pocket will always help but if Cousins can find any avenues to navigate and bump up his efficiency when things go off-script or don't go according to plan it will make the Vikings' offense that much more lethal to try and contain. The blueprint for defenses throughout Cousins' career has remained the same and it circulates around getting pressure in early and often and not being concerned about Cousins working outside of the pocket. It worked for the Browns in Week 4.
There's still plenty of time for the Vikings to figure things out and it starts with a must-win, Week 5 matchup against the Detroit Lions.
