ESPN Reports: Zygi Wilf, owner of the Minnesota Vikings has announced that Kevin O’Connell will no longer serve as head coach…..

Justin Jefferson was stopped on third-and-goal with 6:29 left in the third quarter by the Rams.

Naturally, Los Angeles tried earlier but failed. On Thursday Night Football, “Jets,” the fifth-leading Vikings receiver, caught his first eight targets, impressing the national audience.

Third-down stop was enough. After Minnesota settled for three, the Rams seized their first lead four minutes later and never looked back, defeating the Vikings 30-20 in Head Coach Kevin O’Connell’s first visit to SoFi Stadium since Sean McVay’s Super Bowl LVI win.

“We just didn’t sustain enough, and we weren’t on the field enough,” said O’Connell. “I mean 50 plays, again, when it’s a game like this and their offense is making some plays and sustaining drives and kind of eating a lot of clock it can feel like an awfully short game to you as an offense when you’re either scoring or going backwards, either self-inflicted or sacks, so we’ve got to just try to find a way to mitigate that.”

Minnesota fell to 5-2 after trading first-half touchdowns for second-half field goals, committing a laundry list of “self-inflicteds” (a trend recently) that O’Connell said was exacerbated by noise and cadence issues, and making costly decisions after big connections.

Four plays before bracket coverage on Jefferson forced an incompletion in the end zone, the Vikings star bobbled and pinned a 27-yard pass on his shoulder pad with one hand for the Week 8 kickoff game’s highlight. Unfortunately, the next play call backfired.

The Vikings ran to the line, snapped, and gave off to running back Aaron Jones, Sr., thinking McVay would raise his challenge flag. The Rams head coach did not challenge, and Jones was dropped for a loss of 4, sapping offensive momentum.

Jones returned 3 on a second-down run, and Jefferson stumbled on a third-down play, losing his sole catch.

Will Reichard kicked a 23-yard field goal.

“I feel like these last two losses [have] been self-inflicted,” Jefferson said. “The non-execution on certain plays that we need is definitely something that hurts us in the long run.”

One bad snap can be too many.

Minnesota was penalized nine times, five of which gave the Rams new downs. Sam Darnold lost 28 yards on three sacks, including the second-to-last with 5:10 left, which ended a potential game-tying drive that started with his 16th 25-plus yard completion this year.

Reichard returned in the fourth quarter after the Vikings’ offense stalled in Rams territory. Jones caught a 25-yard sideline pass this time. However, O’Connell blew his first of three timeouts in field-goal range, allowing the team to gain only 6 yards.

The Vikings were within one point after the rookie kicker prevented Minnesota from retaking the lead.

Jefferson added, “That’s definitely something that we don’t like,” about red-zone issues. “If you look at the scoreboard, we put seven instead of three a couple of those times, this game would be totally different.”

Jefferson played his finest game of the season with eight catches for 115 yards. Believe it or not, 8 is not a typo. After the goal-line sequence, he completed no passes.

While not perfect, Jets excels in many areas. He passed Randy Moss as the league’s all-time leader for 100-yard games in a player’s first five seasons with 10 games left in his fifth NFL season.

“We need to stay on people’s necks,” Jefferson said. “Just execute every play for 60 minutes. Ultimately, who wants it more? Neither team is sad, and we’ll beat them. It won’t.”

Minnesota must learn to finish games as it starts.

Darnold finished an 8-play, 70-yard, game-opening drive with the patience that has defined his Renaissance sixth NFL season, pattering his feet in a clean pocket as tight end Josh Oliver uncovered on a shallow crossing route from the Rams’ 5-yard line. Darnold flicked his wrist for a simple score.

Justin Jefferson was stopped on third-and-goal with 6:29 left in the third quarter by the Rams.
Naturally, Los Angeles tried earlier but failed. “Jets,” the fifth-leading Vikings receiver, caught his first eight targets on Thursday Night Football, wowing the nation.
Third-down stop was enough. After Minnesota settled for three, the Rams seized their first lead four minutes later and never looked back, defeating the Vikings 30-20 in Head Coach Kevin O’Connell’s first visit to SoFi Stadium since Sean McVay’s Super Bowl LVI win.
“We just didn’t sustain enough, and we weren’t on the field enough,” said O’Connell. “I mean 50 plays, again, when it’s a game like this and their offense is making some plays and sustaining drives and kind of eating a lot of clock it can feel like an awfully short game to you as an offense when you’re either scoring or going backwards, either self-inflicted or sacks, so we’ve got to just try to find a way to mitigate that.”
Minnesota fell to 5-2 after trading first-half touchdowns for second-half field goals, committing a laundry list of “self-inflicteds” (a trend recently) that O’Connell said was exacerbated by noise and cadence issues, and making costly decisions after big connections.
Four plays before bracket coverage on Jefferson forced an incompletion in the end zone, the Vikings star bobbled and pinned a 27-yard pass on his shoulder pad with one hand for the Week 8 kickoff game’s highlight. Unfortunately, the next play call backfired.
The Vikings ran to the line, snapped, and gave off to running back Aaron Jones, Sr., thinking McVay would raise his challenge flag. The Rams head coach did not challenge, and Jones was dropped for a loss of 4, sapping offensive momentum.
Jones returned 3 on a second-down run, and Jefferson stumbled on a third-down play, losing his sole catch.
Will Reichard kicked a 23-yard field goal.
“I feel like these last two losses [have] been self-inflicted,” Jefferson said. “The non-execution on certain plays that we need is definitely something that hurts us in the long run.”
One bad snap can be too many.
Minnesota was penalized nine times, five of which gave the Rams offense new downs, and Sam Darnold lost 28 yards on three sacks, the second-to-last of which came with 5:10 left and ended a potential game-tying drive that started with his 16th 25-yard completion of the year.
Reichard returned in the fourth quarter after the Vikings’ offense stalled in Rams territory. Jones caught a 25-yard sideline pass this time. However, O’Connell blew his first of three timeouts in field-goal range, allowing the team to gain only 6 yards.
The Vikings were within one point after the rookie kicker prevented Minnesota from retaking the lead.
Jefferson added, “That’s definitely something that we don’t like,” about red-zone issues. “If you look at the scoreboard, we put seven instead of three a couple of those times, this game would be totally different.”
Jefferson played his finest game of the season with eight catches for 115 yards. Unbelievable, eight is not a typo. After the goal-line sequence, he completed no passes.
Though unable to do everything, Jets does much. He passed Randy Moss as the league’s all-time leader for 100-yard games in a player’s first five seasons with 10 games left in his fifth NFL season.
“We need to stay on people’s necks,” Jefferson said. “Just execute every play for 60 minutes. Ultimately, who wants it more? Neither team is sad, and we’ll beat them. It won’t.”
Minnesota must learn to finish games as it starts.
Darnold finished an 8-play, 70-yard, game-opening drive with the patience that has defined his Renaissance sixth NFL season, pattering his feet in a clean pocket as tight end Josh Oliver uncovered on a shallow crossing route from the Rams’ 5-yard line. Darnold flicked his wrist for a simple score.