After Vikings running game stalls again, coach Kevin O'Connell looking for 'other tools'

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell was patient with the rushing attack during Sunday's 19-13 win in Chicago, calling a balanced game without receiver Justin Jefferson and trying to salt away a victory in which the Vikings did not trail at any point.

But the run game gave O'Connell little reason to remain patient moving forward against a stingy San Francisco 49ers defense on Monday night. After running back Alexander Mattison gained 44 yards on 18 carries against the Bears, the Vikings' 20 rushing first downs are tied with the Buccaneers for an NFL low; they're also tied with the Steelers with no rushing touchdowns through six games.

O'Connell pointed Monday to early-down production — or lack thereof — and the possibility of leaning more on quarterback Kirk Cousins and the passing game regarding the team's offensive woes Sunday.

"We have other tools at our disposal to try to be more efficient where maybe it's not the run game," O'Connell said. "It could be the rhythm and timing of the quick passing game or the no huddle or different personnel groupings.

"We have to go into all those tools to try to best serve ourselves in offense when you are without a player of Justin's caliber," he added. "We have quite honestly built a lot of the things we do around him, but that is by no stretch going to be allowed to be an excuse for us not going out there and playing to our potential on offense. It starts with me and our staff and giving these guys the tools they need to go have success."

The Vikings' struggles on early downs — Cousins needed at least 11 yards on six third-down attempts in Chicago — came in the first game without Jefferson, who was actually dominating early in drives this season and more of a decoy on third downs.

On first and second downs this year, Jefferson has 80% of his catches and 86% of his yards. The Vikings missed that production right away.

"Negative plays, penalties, didn't run the ball as efficiently as we wanted," O'Connell said. "We have to be better on those early downs and be more efficient."

Safety Lewis Cine's time on the inactives list will be short, O'Connell said. The 2022 first-round pick is expected to be active against the 49ers on Monday night after he was a healthy scratch for Sunday's game in Chicago. O'Connell pointed to the hamstring strain Cine suffered in the Sept. 24 loss to the Chargers when asked about him not playing against the Bears despite being listed as available on the injury report.

"He's been working his way back from that hamstring injury and we feel good about him being at full capacity," O'Connell said. "We'll hopefully get him going a little bit. My anticipation is he'll be up and ready to roll this week."

"Lew knows we have 100% confidence in him," he added, "and I think we'll see his role continue to evolve and grow throughout the season."

Cornerback Akayleb Evans was in significant pain in the visiting locker room at Soldier Field after Sunday's game. According to O'Connell, Evans is dealing with soreness in his "oblique area." He was in and out of Sunday's win, playing 50 of 66 snaps. O'Connell said Evans will "hopefully" work through the injury this week. The cornerback also suffered a knee injury in the Oct. 8 loss to Kansas City.

The Vikings turned to second-year cornerback Andrew Booth Jr., who played a season-high 26 snaps against Chicago. Rookie Mekhi Blackmon, who replaced Evans against the Chiefs, saw just one defensive snap despite no injury being announced.