Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Minnesota Vikings: Keep Your Enemies Close – 5 Questions with The Viking Age

2. The defense seemed to carry the Vikings for most of the season – has the offense really been holding the team back that much, and can most of it be attributed to the absence of Adrian Peterson?

"The answer to all these questions is the offensive line. Going through 4 starting offensive tackles since training camp and having players on the interior of the line miss games has been devastating to both pass protection and run blocking. No matter who was behind that line, they would struggle to gain yardage and any quarterback would struggle to find a way to get rid of the football fast enough. While Adrian can be a game changer at times, even he looked pedestrian behind this line in week 1."

My take:

Even when the Vikings were undefeated over the first 5 weeks, they struggled on offense. The defense created opportunities and the special teams also made some plays. Adam is right – the root of the problems on offense is the offensive line play. Bradford is being forced into the same hole that hampered his career in St. Louis – he has to get rid of the ball within a second or two to avoid getting hammered in the pocket. The Jaguars should be able to exploit this with some timely blitzes and a good game by Yannick Ngakoue.

Next: A Bridge(water) too far