The Vikings delivered a performance so dismal, frustrated fans were joking they should be banned from prime time. A night riddled with injuries, shaky quarterback play, and crushing self-inflicted mistakes left the team reeling. In the aftermath, head coach Kevin O’Connell addressed the locker room with a sense of urgency that made it clear- something has to change, and fast.

O’Connell looked broken in the press conference, and his words echoed that sentiment. “We’ve got to go back to work and improve immediately. The negative plays are stacking up against us, where it seems like we take one step forward and two steps back,” he said.

If you’re wondering what those ‘negative plays’ are, it’s basically a lot of things combined into one little phrase. Nothing really went right for the Vikings tonight.

Minnesota’s offense sputtered all night—failing to sustain drives, coughing up the ball, and watching an offensive line, rebuilt with offseason reinforcements, collapse under pressure. The Falcons took full advantage. Bijan Robinson slashed through the defense for 143 rushing yards, Tyler Allgeier piled on, and kicker Parker Romo calmly drilled five field goals.

Atlanta flat-out overpowered Minnesota, nearly doubling their production with 326 total yards to the Vikings’ meager 198. That’s a gulf. The turnovers told a similar story: Minnesota coughed it up four times, while Atlanta played clean with zero. The Vikings’ inability to protect the football was a costly, recurring disaster.

And we all expected the running game to be bad, but the Vikings took it to another level. The ground game was a mismatch from start to finish. Atlanta bulldozed its way to 218 rushing yards, while Minnesota mustered only 78. Without a run game, the Vikings had no way to control the clock or stay ahead of the chains. And it showed.

The worst part of the night? It proved that McCarthy is far, far behind where the Vikings want him to be. In the previous matchup vs the Bears, McCarthy in the first three quarters was an entirely different player to the McCarthy we saw in the fourth quarter. And tonight, we only got a glimpse of the former.

J.J. McCarthy struggled mightily, completing just 11 of 21 passes for 158 yards, tossing two interceptions, and coughing up a fumble. The result? A Vikings offense that never once found the end zone. But the O-line was equally at fault. J.J. McCarthy was sacked 6 times for 38 yards. He was exposed to pressure all game long.

But if you think it couldn’t get any worse, you’re wrong. Injuries piled up in an already injury-stricken locker room. And O’Connell’s updates weren’t too convincing.

O’Connell confirms injury blows

The O-line took major blows today. First, center Ryan Kelly headed to the locker room after a blow to his head, and then LT Justin Skule followed suit. O’Connell confirmed that they both have concussions. Not too surprising. Ryan Kelly played just 10 games last year and hasn’t done anything to justify his $18 million deal yet.

And Skule was brought to fill in for Christian Darrisaw, who’s coming off a major ACL/MCL reconstruction in his left knee. That’s a major chunk of O-line depth that vanished in just one game week. But it doesn’t end there, either.

Aaron Jones is set to undergo evaluation for a hamstring injury, while Gabriel Murphy will have his knee examined for a possible MCL issue. For a team that already had 15 names in the injury report heading into tonight’s games, it would be safe to label this as a ‘crisis’.

Oh, and Jonathan Greenard, who briefly exited after his shoulder was yanked on a play, was checked out before ultimately returning to action. But if that pain persists, you can’t rule out yet another injury. All Kevin O’Connell can hope for is a swift return. And Darrisaw needs to be back, quick.