Vikings start strong but go flat in second half of 24-13 preseason loss to Seahawks

SEATTLE – The Vikings, who opened the preseason with a 24-13 loss to the Seahawks on Thursday night, remain winless in four exhibition games under Kevin O'Connell. Put another way, they have as many preseason wins (zero) as Justin Jefferson has preseason snaps.

Their NFC North championship a year ago came after they reached the start of the regular season in fine health, and the fact the Vikings rested almost all of their starters on Thursday night makes the game's final result trivial. After the Vikings took a 10-0 lead in the first half at Lumen Field, though, and saw their young defenders turn in a commanding first quarter, the game's final two quarters provided coaches with a fresh batch of teaching points.

The Seahawks, who had just 21 yards in the first quarter, totaled 319 in the final three quarters, pulling away to win as the Vikings' mistakes afforded Seattle a number of big plays. After Nick Mullens completed 14 of 20 passes for 139 yards in the first half, rookie Jaren Hall battled consistent pressure in the second, when the Vikings had just two first downs in Hall's first four drives.

"I thought in the first half, offensively, Nick Mullens managed the game really well," O'Connell said. "I thought [running back] Ty Chandler jumped out, because any time he had the ball in his hand, very rarely was he tackled by the first defender. ... And then defensively, I thought early on, those guys were winning the line of scrimmage. A lot of the guys that keep showing up every day on the tape in practice did the same tonight. In the second half, we've got to continue to coach those guys up. Would have loved to win the game, but we've got a lot of things to correct and things to build upon."

A pair of joint practices against the Titans this week, before the Vikings' first home preseason game against Tennessee next Saturday, will give the team plenty of time to work on the rough spots that emerged Thursday night. Between their lack of second-half offense, penalties, special teams mistakes and a pair of costly lapses in coverage, the Vikings can find plenty to work on.

Despite the fact the Vikings didn't begin a single one of Mullens' drives further up the field than their own 21, the backup quarterback led a productive offense in the first half, directing back-to-back drives that lasted for at least 11 plays each. He hit six different receivers while facing steady pressure from the Seahawks, connecting with Jalen Reagor four times for 55 yards and finding first-round pick Jordan Addison for a 22-yard gain on a deep crossing route in the second quarter.

Ty Chandler, who was scheduled for a big night of work as the Vikings try to determine if he can overtake Kene Nwangwu for the No. 2 running back spot, carried 11 times for 41 yards and caught another four passes from Mullens for 29 yards, including an 8-yard gain on a checkdown that set up the Vikings' first field goal. Mullens threw his first preseason touchdown pass in a Vikings uniform to tight end Nick Muse, who made an impressive leaping grab in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard score.

But Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock hit Easop Winston Jr. for a 13-yard touchdown over the middle before halftime, firing a dart while second-round pick Mekhi Blackmon's tight coverage was flagged for pass interference. The scoring pass made it 10-7 at halftime.

The Vikings, who had 193 yards of offense in the first half, managed just 55 the rest of the way after Hall replaced Mullens. Their only points came on a 54-yard Greg Joseph field goal, after cornerback Jaylin Williams' impressive play to drop back in coverage and pick off a Lock pass that T.J. Smith tipped at the line of scrimmage.

Seattle put together three touchdown drives in the second half, extending one drive after Thayer Thomas muffed a punt at the Vikings' 32 to give the Seahawks the ball back. After Jake Bobo beat Andrew Booth off the line of scrimmage, the cornerback could not regain positioning in coverage before Lock hit Bobo for a 19-yard score.

"I just know were in a man [coverage] call, maybe sending a five-man rush," O'Connell said. "You've got safety help in the middle, but you're in one-on-one. I don't know whether that guy just got a good release off the ball; it looked like they were just running four vertical [routes] with a shallow [route] underneath it. But I would have to go back and look at it. In those man-to-man situations, we want to see those opportunities come up so we can really evaluate where our guys are at from a coverage standpoint."

Then, third-string Seahawks quarterback Holton Ahlers threw a jump ball for Matt Landers while linebacker Benton Whitley drilled the lefthanded passer. Vikings cornerback Kalon Barnes fell down on the play, and Landers turned the pass into a 30-yard score.

Hall, the Vikings' fifth-round pick from Brigham Young, completed six of 12 passes for 37 yards. The Vikings talked this week about wanting to see him manage the offense well in between plays; Hall said there were several times where he could have helped himself by getting the play call in faster and giving himself more time to set protections at the line of scrimmage.

"Especially in this league, I'm learning so quickly the importance of that: making sure you have your [center] turn the right way and have your [running] back ready to go. It's super important: Get everybody out that you can and make sure you pick up all the pressures that come."