Minnesota’s Offense Comes Up Short: 3 Takeaways From The Bills’ Monday Night Win

It certainly wasn’t pretty, but the Bills notched an important road win that kept them on top of the AFC standings, outlasting the Vikings in a 23-6 slugfest that won’t be featured in any end-of-season highlight reels for either team. Buffalo struggled to move the ball against the Vikings’ elite defense before eventually breaking through. A dismal performance from Carson Wentz, who was filling in for an injured Kyler Murray, certainly helped the Bills’ cause. The journeyman backup wasted several opportunities to stake Minnesota to a first-half lead and eventually left the game to a chorus of boos at home. From there, it was only a matter of time before Josh Allen put the game away. Here are my takeaways: Barring a trade at the deadline, quarterback Kyler Murray’s job is safe. But the Vikings should really consider making a trade for a quarterback on Tuesday if it wants to salvage its season – or just give its fanbase an offense worth cheering for. It’s no exaggeration to call Wentz’s performance one of the worst we’ve seen from a quarterback in recent history. The Vikings defense tried its best to keep Minnesota in the game with timely stops, only to watch Wentz give the ball right back to Buffalo. Wentz’s turnovers got progressively worse as the night went on. He was charged with a fumble after sailing a perimeter screen pass to Justin Jefferson, which was ruled a lateral on review. He sabotaged a promising second-half drive with an underthrown pass up the seam that linebacker Dorian Williams picked off. And then he followed that up with another pick after throwing the ball directly to linebacker Terrell Bernard. Outside those plays, Wentz was shockingly inaccurate. He missed several layup throws in the first quarter and never really recovered from there, finishing 8-for-25 for 81 yards and two interceptions before he was benched for third-stringer Max Brosmer in garbage time. Murray’s performance this season looks solid compared to what we saw on Monday night, but with veteran options like Kirk Cousins and Geno Smith potentially available on the trade market, the Vikings front office has to seriously consider a trade. It would be an insult to defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ unit not to. Minnesota has a Super Bowl-caliber defense that proved itself once again against the league’s highest-scoring offense. For a second consecutive week, though, the defense buckled under the pressure the failing offense is putting it under. Allen eventually found a groove in the second half and put up just enough points to put the game out of reach. Like most teams, the Bills found no success on the ground against a stout Vikings front. Typically, fielding a one-dimensional game against Minnesota is a recipe for disaster, but not when you have Josh Allen. While Allen didn’t put up a gaudy stat line – throwing for 234 yards and just one touchdown – he did carry the Bills offense with his playmaking. He threw the game’s first touchdown after leaving the pocket, buying extra time, and launching a deep ball over the Vikings secondary to reserve tight end Keleki Latu in the back of the end zone. In the first half, it felt like Allen creating out of structure was the only way Buffalo would move the ball, but cracks in Minnesota’s pass coverage eventually emerged the longer its defense remained on the field. Allen started hitting passes in rhythm, causing the Vikings to adjust and give up more space in the run game. Running back James Cook was bottled up for most of the night, averaging just 3.5 yards per carry, but was the engine on the 15-play touchdown drive that put the game away. Allen didn’t escape the game without a mistake. He was picked off in the first quarter after launching a deep ball on third-and-23. The ball hung up in the air long enough for Vikings cornerback Bryon Murphy to vacate his coverage on the opposite side of the field and run under the ball. It was more of a bad throw than a bad decision, but we can’t write this one as an “arm punt,” as it cost the Bills a chance at a field goal. Still, not many quarterbacks have fared as well against this defense as Allen did on Monday night. Buffalo has given up only 16 points in its last two games. It would be easier to celebrate that achievement if those games weren’t against the Ravens’ backup quarterbacks and Wentz. The Bills defense is showing some signs of improvement. The pass rush generated pressure on 41.2% of Minnesota’s dropbacks, per Next Gen Stats. Pass coverage is still a concern, though. There were a decent number of open throws to be made; Wentz just wasn’t capable of making them. Whether or not Buffalo can sustain this against better competition, the secondary could use an addition at the deadline. The team has been linked with Cardinals safety Budda Baker, and with the Jaguars trading for Jessie Bates on Monday, the Bills could be the only contending team in the market for a safety. A trade for a cornerback would also help, and with several veteran options, including Riq Woolen (Eagles), Donte Jackson (Chargers) and Nahshon Wright (Jets) available, the price for an upgrade shouldn’t be too steep. 3 ½. What’s Next? After escaping Minnesota and its terrifying defense with a win, Buffalo gets a relatively easy two-week stretch before a brutal five-week gauntlet against the Chiefs, Patriots, Packers, Bears, and Broncos. The Bills have the inside track to the AFC’s top seed, but they will need to be at the top of their game through the holiday season to maintain it. Things won’t get any easier for a Vikings team desperately searching for an answer to its quarterback problem. They’ll travel to Green Bay next week for an important divisional game against the Packers, then head to Mexico City to take on the 49ers. Win those games, and Minnesota can re-establish itself as an NFC contender. Lose them, and the Vikings could fall out of the playoff race.