The Minnesota Vikings’ offense has a lot of talent, but it hasn’t shown tonight. They were held to just three points in the first half. The Los Angeles Chargers deserve a lot of credit for their defensive efforts because the Vikings haven’t gotten anything going outside of some passes to Justin Jefferson. Jordan Mason has been very quiet in Minnesota’s backfield after being an important rusher in the last few weeks.
Jordan Mason’s Quiet Night
Mason has been completely ineffective in tonight’s game. He has two carries for just one yard and one catch for only three yards. He’s been their main running back for most of the season and has been productive. He’s been in the game, but not getting many carries with the Vikings playing from behind.
Aaron Jones Sr. also returned to action for the game, which would be part of the lack of carries for Mason. But Jones only has three carries himself, so the Vikings haven’t run the ball much at all. Through the third quarter, nothing has really changed for the Vikings on the ground. Mason added two carries for two yards to take his game total so far to four carries and three yards, along with his three yards and a catch.
The Vikings have to get their rushing attack going. If they can’t get any semblance of a run game going, it’s hard to imagine that they can turn this deficit around in the fourth quarter. The offense is very one-dimensional without an effective run game, and dealing with shaky offensive line play has complicated the passing game as well.
The issue is that they have been trailing by two or three possessions for a solid portion of the game, which has limited their ability to establish the rush consistently. As the clock ticks down, the Vikings won’t be running the ball as they need to conserve time.
Mason has found the end zone four times and hasn’t had fewer than 52 rush yards in the last four games. He’s scored in back-to-back games, too. It looks extremely likely that Mason won’t hit these numbers in tonight’s game and won’t be finding the end zone either. Fantasy managers won’t be too happy with Mason in this one, and might be worried about what Jones’ return has done to his value.
Based on PFSN’s RB Impact metric, Mason is the 16th-ranked running back in the league with an impact score of 80.3, and is graded B-.
After tonight’s game, the Vikings will have to get back to the drawing board. They will drop below .500 and have the Lions next on their schedule. With the return of J.J. McCarthy looming, they need to get their offense rolling and get healthy. With a pivotal sequence of games upcoming, the Vikings have to get back on track.
