Vikings film review: Rushing attack searching for big plays, touchdowns to help Sam Darnold

What do quarterbacks Sam Darnold, Lamar Jackson and Brock Purdy have in common?

They are under center for the most explosive passing attacks in football through Week 10 of this NFL season.

So while Darnold gets rightfully critiqued for the Vikings offense failing to score a touchdown as he threw three interceptions, including two in the Jaguars end zone during Sunday’s 12-7 victory, coaches are also focused on getting more finishing power from the run game.

Darnold has just about all the help he needs in the passing game. Coach Kevin O’Connell is a respected play caller; tight end T.J. Hockenson announced his return with a team-leading eight grabs for 72 yards; and receiver Justin Jefferson is so good that the Jaguars played with two safeties deep for over 90% of passing plays in an effort to contain the NFL’s most explosive passing game. The Vikings’ 35 passes of 20-plus yards are tied with the Ravens and 49ers for the league high, according to Pro Football Reference.

But if Darnold isn’t throwing touchdowns, the Vikings generally aren’t scoring them.

The Vikings offense hasn’t had a rushing touchdown in the past three games; only two offenses, the Cowboys and Browns, have fewer rushing scores this season than the Vikings’ four. Their lack of points from the run game goes back to last season. The Vikings have scored the fewest rushing touchdowns (11) across the league since Week 1 of 2023, a 26-game span.

Darnold has thrown 17 of the offense’s 21 touchdowns through nine games.

He couldn’t throw one Sunday. And while running backs Aaron Jones and Cam Akers led a season-best 169-yard rushing effort, they were shut out of the end zone.

The Vikings want to make soft defenses, playing off to defend the pass, pay with damaging runs like big plays — preferably runs — that end in touchdowns. Their longest run on Sunday went 13 yards.

“We really didn’t get close enough to attempt to run the ball in the end zone unless you’re going to get a bigger [play],” coordinator Wes Phillips said. “Honestly, we felt like within the game there were some plays where if we’re just a little bit better in an area or two than those plays were close to being a 20-yard, a 30-yard run. And that’s where we’ve got to get to if a team wants to put a shell over the top of it. ... We felt like we were close, but we just got to be a little bit better there and make teams think twice about playing shell the whole game.”

The Vikings’ run game ranks below average in “explosive” runs, or carries that gain at least 10 yards.

Jones turns 30 in December, but he’s still got his long speed. He reached 20 miles per hour during his 34-yard touchdown run, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, against the Lions on Oct. 20.

And the Vikings’ longest run at Jacksonville was his 13-yard bounce to the outside against a rare stacked front by a Jacksonville defense that was eager to back up and give the Vikings space.

Much of the game looked like this play below, when O’Connell called a fake screen that spread the defense wide and created space for Jones to run up the middle out of shotgun. The Jaguars are playing off coverage. The Vikings have the numbers advantage. Five blockers to five defenders should allow Jones to break free if it’s blocked correctly. But right guard Ed Ingram appears to not peel off the double team up front to get to the Jaguars linebacker, who tackles Jones.

The interior of the Vikings offensive line remains an issue. Ingram and center Garrett Bradbury were the weakest links at Jacksonville, where they both could not consistently climb to the second level and wall off linebackers. In this run below, left tackle Cam Robinson creates a huge lane that is closed because Bradbury doesn’t block the linebacker.