EAGAN, Minn. — Minnesota dearly missed its run game on Thursday Night Football in Los Angeles.

The Vikings were missing four of their top road graders in Week 8, losing them either during the contest at the Chargers (tight end Josh Oliver and left tackle Christian Darrisaw) or planning to hold the fort down with them inactive (fullback C.J. Ham and right tackle Brian O'Neill). It's no excuse, but Head Coach Kevin O'Connell recognized it played a role in the team's inability to effectively run the ball versus an L.A. defense that previously was susceptible to it.

O'Connell spoke Friday with Twin Cities reporters about trying to establish the run without those players.

Minnesota finished with 34 net rushing yards on 11 attempts (3.1 avg.) in its 37-10 loss that dropped the club below .500 for the first time this season. It's tandem of Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones, Sr., combined for 18 yards on nine carries while reserve Zavier Scott paced the offense with 16 on two attempts inside the 2-minute warning.

Overall, it was the Vikings fewest rush yards in a game since Week 16 of 2023 and one of 16 instances this century of the franchise gaining fewer than 35 yards on the ground in a game in the regular season. Furthermore, it was only the 17^th occasion of a Vikings offense advancing the sticks via the run game three or fewer times – it did so once – and producing 35 or fewer rush yards in a game in team history.

"When you're in a game where you're down some linemen that make those known passing downs a little bit more difficult, the lack of ability to get some of those plays going [is problematic]," O'Connell offered. "We found ourselves behind the chains too many times in the game, and we were able to overcome, minimally, with some playmaking by either Justin [Jefferson] or some of our other skill players in the pass game. But it's just not the formula for success when you are trying to mitigate some other areas that are concerning based upon the matchups and some of the things you're trying to work through as a group."

It was a balancing act, too, O'Connell continued, knowing that involving players like Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson "can do wonders for your offensive rhythm" if they're rolling in the early going. "But we just were never really able to put it all together and consistently look like the offense we want to look like. And there's a lot of reasons for that, and we've identified some of those on the tape. But I do think the fundamentals and technique of guys in the run game, making sure we, both schematically have the best angles we can have, and the identity of plays matching with then the technique and fundamentals of being able to go cover guys up and get things started for our runners."

O'Connell reflected it really hurt execution not having Oliver's presence at that "Y" tight end position. Oliver exited the action with a foot injury following Minnesota's seventh offensive snap and his fourth.

Adjusting to injuries on the fly is common for every team, though: "We were missing some pieces, but at the same time the film does clearly show that we can be better, and we need to be better," O'Connell said.

Here are two other takeaways from O'Connell's virtual media session leading into the mini-bye weekend:

1. Scheduling could help Christian Darrisaw

Two plays after Oliver left the game, so did Darrisaw.

The first-quarter departure of Minnesota's elite left tackle compounded its blocking issues, and forced Justin Skule, who was filling in for O'Neill at right tackle to switch sides and guard Carson Wentz's blindside. As a result, second-year lineman Walter Rouse was tasked at RT with a career-high 40 snaps.

You might be wondering, where exactly does Darrisaw stand in his rehab from a torn ACL one year ago today? Clearly, he's healthy enough to play, but he's handled 63 percent of the snaps or less in three of five games. O'Connell said it's important to take into account "unique factors of the early season slate."

Ahem, back-to-back international games in separate countries, not to mention a game on short rest at the very stadium Darrisaw sustained his catastrophic knee injury this time last season against the Rams.

"I think it's something that now we should be in a pretty consistent Sunday-to-Sunday type approach with some limited factors there for the foreseeable future," O'Connell noted. "It's something where hopefully we can get back into a consistent rhythm of what Christian's work week looks like; a rhythm of what his recovery looks like coming off a Sunday game, and then try to consistently get him turned over because it's no secret how critical he's been to our success, how critical he's been to our consistency.

"And I would go along the same route with what Brian O'Neill has meant to our offense as well, as those two pillars on the outside that allow so much to go for our offense, and I would sign up for having those guys out there every single play for the rest of the season," the coach continued. "But at the same time, we've got to find ways to continue to build in a way with our depth, with our scheme (and) with our management of some of those unique circumstances where those guys might not be in the game."

O'Connell relayed there hasn't been any kind of preset number of snaps for Darrisaw going into any of his five games so far, in which he's logged 38, 76, 41, 69 and 9 reps. O'Connell shared "It's really kind of an unknown in many ways, and that leads to Christian's dialogue with the medical staff and kind of where he thinks he's at. And his ability to go out and do his job, ultimately, is the most important thing."

From O'Connell's perspective, the goal is to maintain Darrisaw's "arrow pointing up and progressing."

2. Urgently working toward solutions

Addressing the problems seen on tape Thursday and attempting to right the ship will be a group effort.

Blake Cashman, Joshua Metellus, Aaron Jones, Sr., and Justin Jefferson each emphasized postgame the value of having a closeknit locker room while under duress. Rather than pointing fingers, players have each other's backs and are ready to take accountability for individual mistakes while also staying united as a team.

O'Connell reiterated the same Friday afternoon, noting, "I love our guys."

"I love the makeup of our guys," he said. "We clearly didn't have the performance or the result, and that's all of us last night and everybody … in that locker room and our coaching staff, we have to acknowledge that; we can't run from it. And at the same time, I think all of the things that those players have built in their locker room, and the principles that we've built [into our foundation] is for these moments where we've got to be even more connected, even more of a group that can work through this together.

"I know that's the type of leadership we have, that's the type of team that our guys have formed, and we're going to need to lean in on that," O'Connell added.

He emphasized the long season and "certain aspects of the schedule that can be more challenging than others," including back-to-back international contests, a second straight season of Week 8 Thursday Night Football games or another forthcoming short week in December, when Minnesota will play the Giants on Dec. 21 before hosting the Lions Christmas Day.

But regardless of challenges beyond their control, the Vikings continue to believe in their team's construction and talent at-hand.

"But at the same time, what are we doing on the practice field? What are we doing in the meeting rooms? What are we doing to ensure that, you know, every stone is being uncovered and we're making sure that we're on top of every detail, every fundamental technique, scheme," O'Connell said. "What is the identity of our team, and how do we continue to press forward to finding that and then seeing that?"

He stressed that whether navigating injuries or shoring up on-field fundamentals, "there's got to be an urgency" in not only identifying solutions but then executing those solutions accordingly.

"I know our guys will commit, and they will understand that there's a ton of football left in front of us," O'Connell said. "And although 10 games give us an opportunity to dig ourselves out of this temporary hole we're in, it's going to be only done by rolling up our sleeves and going to work on this."

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