Five keys to the Vikings offense next season

Minnesota’s offense looked shaky in Kirk Cousins’ first season with the team, but the Vikings showed signs of improvement the next year.

The team ranked No. 8 in points and No. 6 in rushing yards among all NFL teams in 2019. Kevin Stefanski and company emphasized an offensive system that put Cousins in a role that was more conducive to his success, and the offense won more games because of it.

For 2020, Minnesota will have to keep what works and let young talent fill in and bring something new to the table.

Here are some key factors the team will hope come true:

Dalvin Cook needs to stay healthy

In his short career with the Vikings, Cook has shown he can be successful — when he’s on the field.

Cook finished 2019 with 1,135 yards and 13 touchdowns, both of which were career highs. It was also Cook’s healthiest season.

The running back played in all but two regular season games. The last game was against the Bears, where reserves played, so he probably would not have been playing a ton if he was good to go.

He has missed a total of 19 regular season games over three NFL seasons so far. When he’s on the field, the Vikings are able to efficiently run the ball, and when he’s not, the team can struggle to get the offense going. Cook playing for the Vikings consistently is key to helping other aspects of the offense succeed.

Kirk Cousins needs to be used in rollouts and play-action

When Cousins first came to the Vikings, he dropped back a lot more, and the offense didn’t look as good.

Cousins had 606 pass attempts in 2018, tied for a career high for him. This season Cousins had 444.

Despite having considerably less attempts, his touchdown passes only went down by four — 26 last season, compared to 30 the season before. He also had a 107.4 quarterback rating in 2019, compared to a 99.7 in 2018.

Cousins dropped back less and the offense was rewarded for it. Not only that, but Pro Football Focus ranked Cousins first in play-action passes and designed rollouts. The offense had Cousins drop back in the conventional sense a lot less, and found a system that worked for him.

Signs point to offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak doing something similar on offense to what the team did in 2019, so let’s hope he does that.

Jefferson has to pick up where Diggs left off

Minnesota traded its leading receiver from 2019: Stefon Diggs.

Granted Adam Thielen was the leading receiver from 2016-18, and he’s still on the team. However, the Vikings have been reliant on the one-two punch of Diggs and Thielen in the passing game, and Minnesota will hope that Justin Jefferson replaces at least a majority of Diggs’ production.

I think it’s unfair to say that Jefferson will 100% replace a player of Diggs’ caliber, but I don’t think him having a good year where he gets at least 900 yards or so is out of the question.

The Vikings need more help than just Jefferson, Thielen

OK, let’s say Jefferson has a great rookie year; there still needs to be more in the passing game than just Thielen and him.

Whether it’s Bisi Johnson, Chad Beebe, K.J. Osborn, Quartney Davis or someone else, the Vikings have to find a solid wide receiver three. Not only is that key for the passing game to not fall off without Diggs, but it also makes sure that if there is another situation like Adam Thielen’s hamstring injury, the Vikings don’t lose a ton of production.

It would help for one of the aforementioned receivers to step up into a bigger offensive role this year. It would also help for a player like Irv Smith Jr. to have a breakout year.

The Vikings should be more aggressive on fourth down

Mike Zimmer was asked about analytics at the NFL Combine. He said something that, while reasonable, might be a cause for concern.

“I have a hard time [with] someone telling me to go for it on fourth-and-5 when you’re up by two scores and they don’t know the team that they’re playing against. And if you do go for it and you don’t get it, they don’t get fired. I do. So that’s my take on it.”

SKOR North reported that Zimmer was referring to a game against the New York Jets in 2018. The Vikings were up by 10 and kicked a field goal from the 4-yard line, instead of going for it on fourth down, which isn’t exactly what Zimmer was saying at the combine, but was pretty close.

Personally, I didn’t think the offense was too bad at making the call of whether to go for it or not in fourth-down situations, but there were certain situations that garnered frustration.

The first one that comes to mind is when the Vikings, down 27-10, punted the ball back to the 49ers in the 2019-20 playoffs with a little under nine minutes to go.

I get that it was fourth-and-long, but the team was near midfield, and punting the ball away to an offense that was taking the Minnesota defense apart in the running game was just as risky as going for it, but without the possible reward of moving the sticks.

That said, the Vikings attempted to go for it on first down 15 times, converting eight, according to ESPN. That puts them at ninth for attempts. And the top five teams in attempts for 2019 — the Giants, Eagles, Panthers, Falcons and Bears — weren’t necessarily the most high-octane offenses in the NFL.

I still think that there are some situations where the Vikings could put their opponents in tighter spots by converting a fourth down. They shouldn’t be afraid to do so.