Despite getting the Week 3 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there’s concern over how the Minnesota Vikings‘ offense looked. Kyler Murray, returning from a concussion, was 15-for-29, finishing with 168 passing yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
While this was Murray’s first full game as the starter, questions are emerging about whether he can solve the QB issue going forward. After trading J.J. McCarthy to the New York Giants, the Vikings will lean on Murray or veteran Carson Wentz, who has already played in two games.
Despite concerns about how Murray and the Vikings offense looked against Tampa Bay, Dallas Turner has faith in the former No. 1 pick to lead them.
“I’ll just say, Kyler is definitely a very, very athletic quarterback,” Turner said during a Sept. 30 appearance on “Good Morning Football.” “I kind of saw it during camp when I was trying to get a move around, and then you still have to tap off or try to just get near Kyler. This is doggone impossible, if you ask me, during practice.
“But definitely an athletic quarterback. You can tell he’s a leader on the offensive side of the ball, and a lot of guys on the offensive side and on the defensive side trust him a lot.”
Vikings Only Need Kyler Murray to Be Above Average
Meanwhile, ESPN and NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt noted that with the defense the Vikings have, they don’t need Murray to put on a superhero cape. Minnesota only needs the former Arizona Cardinals QB to be above average, and the team could be a legit threat.
“I think there is now a massive Kyler conversation that is coming, that is happening,” Brandt said in a Sept. 30 video from “Big Day.” “Going into the season, Kyler Murray was an NFC North topic. Where do the Vikings fall? It now becomes not only an NFC topic, but an NFL topic. I almost look at it like going into the season, how we looked at C.J. Stroud in the AFC.
“Dude, just get it on the fairway for us. Give us a B-, and we can do some big things. I know what we’re getting from him; I don’t know what we’re getting from Kyler. I don’t know if he knows what he’s getting from Kyler. But Kyler Murray, with the emergence of this defense, has become one of the most important quarterbacks in the NFL because he’s good. They can be unstoppable.”
Kyler Murray Believes Minnesota Offense Will Improve
Even with the concerns, after the win in Tampa, Murray stated that he believes that the Vikings offense will improve with more time to gel; he was also critical of himself and knows there’s room for improvement as the team looks to go 4-0 when they face the Miami Dolphins in Week 4.
“There were some throws I missed,” Murray told reporters postgame on Sept. 27. “I felt, for my first game, first full game since October last year, I felt like I started to slow down for me. But at the end of the day, it just wasn’t offensively; we weren’t just on the same page.
“It was a miss here, a miss there, a penalty here, a penalty there, and it just kind of piled up. But at the end of the day, we got the job done. Team effort, and we’re leaving here with a win.”
Vikings’ Kyler Murray Gets Blunt Message Amid Offensive Concerns