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The Minnesota Vikings fell to 4-5 after a 27-19 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on November 9 at U.S. Bank Stadium. It was a rough afternoon for the offense, which committed eight false start penalties despite playing at home. J.J. McCarthy, in his second season, hoped to build on his showing against the Detroit Lions but struggled to find rhythm. He completed 20 of 42 passes for 248 yards, throwing one touchdown and two interceptions. Amid another setback for the Vikings, NBC Sports’ NFL insider Mike Florio states that Minnesota need to find a quarterback this offseason that can compete with McCarthy to push him and potentially reach his full potential. “Vikings need a quarterback competition,” Florio said on the November 10 edition of “Pro Football Talk.” “I think they need to sign somebody in the offseason, not as the ‘you’re going to be the starter and J.J.’s out.‘ I think they need to make him earn it against someone. They need him in day-to-day competition to push him toward his ceiling. And whatever his ceiling is, it is what it is. “Right now, I am concerned the ceiling isn’t where it needs to be because we can’t have one week where it all clicks. It’s not like he’s ever going to be a gunslinger. He’s never going to be Matthew Stafford. It’s going to be about what he can do at the right time—make the right play in the right spot. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t. “I think they need to be looking for somebody with a higher ceiling. So they need to either push him toward that higher ceiling internally or just pull the plug.” Vikings Couldn’t Overcome False Start Penalties Still, the biggest takeaway from the defeat was the repeated mistakes by the offense and not just the production from McCarthy. According to ESPN, the eight false start penalties tied for the second-most in a single game since 2000. After the game, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell addressed the issue with the media. “Well, I think we got to have a conversation as a group,” O’Connell told reporters postgame. ‘What transpired? It doesn’t feel like all eight of those were the same scenario, the same sequence. We try to eliminate them all. “That’s been a huge point of what we think it’s going to take to win the game every week, whether it’s Monday or Wednesday or Friday, talking with the team about eliminating those self-inflicteds, and we didn’t do that in any way, shape, or form. We’ve got to fix it. We’ve got to understand what was different today than what had been something we felt like we eliminated from maybe early on in the season.” Kevin O’Connell Talks About Self-Inflicted Damage Despite the false starts, turnovers, and nonexistent Justin Jefferson, Minnesota still was in the game and had a chance to tie it on their final drive. Nonetheless, that wouldn’t be the case. O’Connell also addressed his feelings about the outcome of the game and carried the burden of the offense’s miscues long after the final play. “To have the football with a chance to tie the game there at the end was an encouraging thing considering how many things we did we can’t do if we want to beat a good football team like that,” O’Connell added. “The players fought, they tried to overcome some things we did to ourselves. “Losing the turnover battle 3-0 and the penalty situation, which we have to get fixed immediately — specifically the eight pre-snap [penalties] — not acceptable in any way. We got to fix it, and we will.”
