It's on Kirk Cousins and Klint Kubiak to Get Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen More Targets

Justin Jefferson, who has quickly proven himself as of the most talented wide receivers in the NFL, has just five catches during this frustrating two-game losing streak for the Vikings since their bye week. His combined line against the Cowboys and Ravens was nine targets and five catches for 90 yards, with 50 of those coming on one play in Baltimore.

Adam Thielen's numbers haven't been any better, either. The veteran leader and longtime excellent receiver has a more reasonable 16 targets over the past two games, but that has resulted in just eight catches for 84 yards, including an outing with more targets (7) than yards (6) last Sunday.

That's inexcusable, to be quite frank.

First-year offensive coordinator and play-caller Klint Kubiak is aware of that.

“You don’t want to come out of a game and Justin has those kind of targets," Kubiak said. "He’s well-deserving of getting the ball more. He helps us win games, so certainly every week we want to get our playmakers the ball. Him, Dalvin, Adam, those are our top playmakers. So we have to be more conscious of that."

There are plenty of reasons why the Vikings' offense has regressed this season, ranking 15th in DVOA, 19th in EPA per play, and 30th in success rate after finishing 8th, 11th, and 5th in those three efficiency metrics last season. They can't run the ball, the offensive line has had issues at times, and losing tight end Irv Smith Jr. to a preseason injury wasn't ideal.

But one of the problems at the forefront of everything is that they've been too conservative as an offense, particularly in the passing game. Kirk Cousins ranks 30th among NFL QBs in average depth of target at 6.8 yards and 35th in air yards relative to the sticks, throwing an average of 2.7 yards behind the line to gain this year. That was particularly true against the Cowboys in Week 8, when Cousins checked the ball down left and right to the tune of an absurdly low ADOT of 4.2 yards, with his average target located more than five yards short of the sticks.

Even against the Ravens, with the offensive line playing much better, the issue persisted. Cousins hit Jefferson for a deep touchdown on the opening drive, but there wasn't a whole lot of aggressiveness in the passing game after that.

Part of that is on Cousins, who simply hasn't been assertive enough when it comes to throwing downfield. He is known as a quarterback who makes his reads the same way every time and goes where the play takes him. But when you have receivers as talented as Jefferson and Thielen are, that approach is flawed. Sometimes you have to give your guys a chance to make a contested catch, even if they aren't wide open. Cousins has become a checkdown specialist this season, leaving potential big plays on the table in favor of endless dumpoffs to running backs, fullbacks, and tight ends.

"There is a balance there," Kubiak said. "You obviously don’t want to be reckless with the ball, but we do have good playmakers that have a chance to do something with it. Don’t want him to force the ball into coverage, but there’s going to be times where we have to be more aggressive — more aggressive play calls, more aggressive finding those guys, more aggressive scrambling. When you don’t have success in those situations, you've got to keep looking for answers on how you can be better. That’s what we’re doing in practice here and always trying to give them tools to go make a play.”

The conservative nature of Minnesota's passing game doesn't just fall on Cousins. Kubiak also deserves his share of blame, because he's the one making the gameplans each week and calling the plays on Sundays. It's Kubiak's responsibility to make sure Jefferson and Thielen are running the right routes so Cousins can find them downfield. Defenses are giving the Vikings more looks with two high safeties this season in an effort to take away big plays through the air, so Kubiak has to find ways to scheme around that.

The Vikings also arguably ought to pass the ball more frequently in general. They're right in the middle of the league with a 59 percent pass rate, but the running game hasn't been effective at all this season.

However it happens, Cousins and Kubiak have to make a change. Their current approach isn't working right now. The Vikings' checkdowns and short passes, particularly on third downs, are killing this offense. They need to find ways to get Jefferson and Thielen more involved before Jefferson starts wondering if Stefon Diggs had a point when he forced his way out of Minnesota.

For now, the second-year wide receiver isn't admitting any frustration, even if it may be there.

"That's just the way the game goes," Jefferson said when asked about his low target numbers in recent weeks. "It's not something that I can really control. But I mean if Klint's saying they want to get me the ball more, I'm all for it. All for making big plays for the team. Whenever my name's called, going out there and making a play. If that's more targets or less targets, it is what it is. The game goes different ways."

Still, Jefferson is a smart guy. He's seen firsthand how the Vikings' offense has gotten off to strong starts every week before getting conservative, struggling mightily in the middle portion of games, and watching leads slip away. He knows how great he and Thielen are.

Jefferson talked on Thursday about the overall frustration level of playing on a team that has lost five one-score games, and he may have snuck a little hint towards the coaching staff in at the end.

“It’s very frustrating," he said. "Pretty much every single loss that we’ve had is between 1 and 7 points. So it’s been tough. These are the worst losses, losing by those few little points. Playing our heart out and just losing at the end of the game. We’ve just got to find a way to finish a game. I feel like we played a pretty good game all the way until the end of the fourth quarter. So we’ve just got to find a way to get over that hump. It doesn’t have to be close. Just putting points on the board, not being conservative, and running up the score."

Not being conservative sounds like a good idea. And that means Cousins and Kubiak making a concerted effort to push the ball downfield to two of the best receivers in the league.

This week's game against the Chargers presents a very interesting test of that dynamic for this Minnesota offense. Brandon Staley will give the Vikings a ton of two-high looks, almost encouraging them to hand the ball off against LA's league-worst run defense. The Chargers have a very talented secondary too, led by corners Chris Harris Jr. and Asante Samuel Jr. and safeties Derwin James and Nasir Adderley. The Vikings should be able to run the ball effectively with Dalvin Cook, but they can't let that prevent them from utilizing their top wideouts.

"I think this defense, sometimes coverage-wise, they give you better looks to run the football," Kubiak said. "But they’re very multiple. It’s a really good scheme, a really sound scheme that we’ve played over the years, whether it’s Vic Fangio in Chicago. They give you a lot of different looks that we’re trying to give our guys this week. The main thing is that we want to get the ball in our playmakers hands, regardless of if it's run or pass."

Kene Nwangwu to get touches on offense?

Playing in just his second NFL game last Sunday, Kene Nwangwu showed off his electrifying abilities with a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a nine-yard sprint on a fake punt.

The rookie running back from Iowa State possesses elite speed and acceleration. In addition to being a weapon on special teams, you'd think it could benefit the Vikings to find ways to put the ball in his hands on offense as well.

Kubiak agrees. 

“Yes, definitely," he said when asked about the possibility of using Nwangwu on offense. "Kene has been proving since OTAs that he’s capable of being a really explosive playmaker. We’re glad to get him back and get him more incorporated into our offense. Proved it on special teams, proved it with us in practice. He’s got two good backs that he’s playing with, so we have to find a way to get them all touches."

The presence of Cook and Alexander Mattison shouldn't prevent the Vikings from utilizing Nwangwu. In fact, there's a legit argument that he should take the backup running back reps from Mattison, whose 12 touches over the past three games have turned into a total of 13 yards. Nwangwu would be a legit change of pace from Cook who could make things happen if the Vikings got him the ball in open space. He could also be used as a gadget player on reverses or screens.