Takeaways from the Vikings’ 23-6 loss to the Packers

GREEN BAY It s hard to effectively sum up how bad the Vikings were after halftime in the embarrassing - loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field The ineptitude displayed might go down as the worst minutes that will ever be put forth under head coach Kevin O Connell It was a total system failure across the board for the Vikings after rookie returner Myles Price muffed a punt near his own goal line That opened the floodgates as quarterback J J McCarthy was forced to take on a heavier workload than he could bear He looked thoroughly overwhelmed for prolonged stretches while struggling to put together consecutive positive plays from scrimmage Here are selected takeaways from the meeting The event looks too big for J J McCarthy right now It s a major challenge that McCarthy seems to be regressing Though growing pains were to be expected for a young signal caller there aren t a lot of things to suggest he s in fact getting better At least not at the moment He completed of passes for yards no touchdowns and a pair of interceptions for the Vikings against the Packers He also appeared to be visibly rattled down the stretch There was clearly a concerted effort from O Connell in the early stages to limit the amount of times McCarthy had to throw the ball He relied on the running meeting more than usual as a way to control the pace of the encounter as best he could The contest script eventually called on McCarthy to shoulder more of the load however and he proved time and time again that he wasn t up for the challenge Not only did he turn the ball over twice his pocket presence disappeared while taking a handful of sacks Is it going to get better for McCarthy in the short term It s hard to see a pathway at this point The offensive line can t stay healthy The highly anticipated return of center Ryan Kelly meant the Vikings completely had their entire projected starting offensive line playing together for the first time That positive advance didn t last very long as left tackle Christian Darrisaw and rookie left guard Donovan Jackson both left the match with injuries The loss of both players up front came with the Vikings already getting dominated by the Packers in the trenches The impact that star edge rusher Micah Parsons brings to the table was palpable as he lived in the backfield against a depleted offensive line across from him He finished the tournament with a pair of sacks and also paved the way for a couple of sacks from defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt The extent of the injures for Darrisaw and Jackson are still unclear It would be a crushing blow if either competitor had to miss an extended period of time The defense necessities to start forcing turnovers It wouldn t be fair to put too much blame on the defense when considering the way the Vikings managed to make life hard on the Packers in specific respects It wasn t an prolific outing for quarterback Jordan Love through the air he only completed of passes for yards It almost felt like the Vikings were content to let backup running back Emanuel Wilson beat them and he did to a degree by posting carries for yards and a pair of touchdowns The more glaring issue for the Vikings is the lack of turnovers being created by the defense After finishing tied for the league lead in takeaways last season they have yet to reach double digits this season That s merely not good enough from a unit that s identity is predicated on takeaways The last time the Vikings forced a turnover in any limit came a scant weeks ago when linebacker Blake Cashman forced a fumble in the upset win over the Detroit Lions The mistakes for Myles Price are adding up The contest got turned upside down for the Vikings when Price lost a fumble on a punt return shortly after halftime After deciding not to call a fair catch near his goal line Price accidentally let the ball hit him That resulted in a turnover and the Vikings never fully recovered against the Packers The blunder from Price wasn t too far removed from a couple of weeks ago when he lost a fumble on a kickoff return in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens As much as the undrafted free agent has shown flashes of brilliance he s also had a number of costly errors to start his career That trend can t continue if Price wants to keep his spot on the roster The excellence of Will Reichard shouldn t be overlooked The lone bright spot from the tournament was the performance from kicker Will Reichard He was the only reason the Vikings scored any points against the Packers After making fact a -yard field goal Reichard followed it up by making a -yard field goal He made both kicks look like chip shots despite the fact that he was kicking in a venue that isn t exactly kind to kickers There s no doubt the Vikings got it right by using a draft pick on Reichard once upon a time He s slowly but surely establishing himself among the best players at his position Related Articles Packers stopped the run then teed off on Vikings J J 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