Missed Opportunities Tell the Story in Vikings' Latest Frustrating Loss

Missed opportunities were the story of the Vikings' 27-20 loss to the Chiefs on Sunday, just like they've been the story of the team's entire 1-4 start. The Vikings had chances to make plays against the defending champions. Too often, they didn't make them. With a razor-thin margin of error caused by turnovers and talent disparity, that makes all the difference.

"You call it bad luck, you call it whatever you want, but in our locker room we’re gonna call it self-inflicted wounds," Josh Metellus said. "That’s on us, those things we can control. If we have the chance to make a play, we have the chance to execute, our job on that play is to do it."

The Vikings quickly found themselves trailing 7-0 when Josh Oliver fumbled on the game's first play and the Chiefs turned the short field into a touchdown. Here's a look at some of the other missed opportunities that haunted them from that point on.

1st quarter, 4:10 (KC 7, MIN 0): Cousins and Hockenson can't connect on third down

On their first possession after falling behind, the Vikings were set up with first and 10 from the Chiefs' 25 when a sack by an unblocked blitzer put them behind schedule. On third down, the Chiefs again sent pressure at Kirk Cousins, who threw just a bit high and outside for T.J. Hockenson. This specific ball would've required an incredible catch, but it did hit Hockenson's hand — which would later become a trend. The Vikings settled for a field goal.

2nd quarter, 8:09 (KC 10, MIN 3): Cousins and Osborn aren't on the same page

Having made it to the red zone, the Vikings again faced a third down after recovering fairly well from a negative play (this time, a Brian O'Neill hold drawn by Chris Jones). It was third and 4, and Cousins tried to hit K.J. Osborn for a game-tying touchdown over the middle of the field before the pocket collapsed. The timing was off. By the time Osborn looked back at Cousins, the ball was already whistling by his helmet.

"It's kinda hard to catch when you're ducking at the same time," Jim Nantz said on the CBS broadcast.

Here was Kirk Cousins trying to find K.J. Osborn in the red zone on third down: pic.twitter.com/ZGK5T8VTIS
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) October 9, 2023

"I was early," Cousins said afterwards. "I saw Justin (Jefferson) getting doubled. I think in hindsight, I'd probably just take Justin in the flat even though he's doubled because I think he gets the first down. I saw him getting doubled and I thought, 'Let me progress.' Well, by getting off Justin so quickly, I was ahead of where K.J. was, and I felt like 'Let me just put the ball out there with touch,' but I knew that I was ahead of it, so it was a lot to ask of K.J. to get his head around and make that play. I wish I had worked Justin in the flat, I wish I had taken a little longer to get back to K.J., and I wish I had thrown with a little more touch and put it out in front of K.J. more."

The Vikings again settled for three points.

3rd quarter, 13:45 (KC 13, MIN 13): Bynum jumps too early

This one hurts. The Vikings sacked Patrick Mahomes on the first play of the second half. It was their second sack of the day, matching the number of times Mahomes was sacked in Kansas City's first four games combined. Two plays later, they had the Chiefs facing third and 18. Brian Flores dialed up a blitz, sending six players on the attack. Danielle Hunter, the team's best pass rusher, had a free path to the quarterback. But just before Hunter and Harrison Smith arrived, Mahomes floated a deep ball off of his back foot from his own 5.

The Vikings' Camryn Bynum had an interception in his sights. Unfortunately, he jumped a half-second too early and whiffed on the ball, which was caught by Justin Watson for a 33-yard gain.

WHAT A CATCH! @jwat05 | @Chiefs

📺: #KCvsMIN on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/LxW25sxPWA pic.twitter.com/vepVhXZmQP
— NFL (@NFL) October 8, 2023

"(We) didn't capitalize on certain things," Bynum said. "A team like that, that's obviously a really good team, if you don't capitalize in your moments, it's a small margin of error. We didn't take advantage of those and it's all on us. That's the reason we lost."

"Coach (Brian Flores) gave us a really good game plan to contain (the Chiefs' offense)," Bynum added. "Plays came to us and we put ourselves in a position to make plays, but we gotta make it. Starts with me on that third and long. Could've been an easy pick for me and I mistimed my jump."

Instead of a turnover or even a pass breakup, it was an explosive play that extended the possession. The Chiefs scored a go-ahead touchdown a few minutes later.

3rd quarter, 10:10 (KC 20, MIN 13): Another missed connection with Hockenson

On the first play after the KC touchdown, Cousins tried to hit Hockenson up the seam over linebacker Drue Tranquill, whose back was turned. Once again, the ball maybe wasn't perfectly thrown, but it hit Hockenson in the hands. This one, even more than the previous one, was a ball the Vikings would love to see their highly-paid Pro Bowl tight end come down with. (Later on, there was a third borderline drop from Hockenson, though that one didn't end up mattering because the Vikings recovered to score a touchdown).

Instead of a 20-yard gain on first down, the Vikings wound up going three-and-out.

These are the three T.J. Hockenson near-catches against the Chiefs. It's tough because they're all difficult plays to make, but you'd love to see your star TE make the QB right by coming down with one or two of them. pic.twitter.com/XAQryT2eTs
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) October 9, 2023

"I think we were just on different pages," Hockenson said of the play (the middle clip in the video above). "I thought he was going to put it high and back cause I felt the 'backer inside and then he put it out in front and it was just kind of like, 'Oh shit.'"

"I think my ball location tonight was too high," Cousins said, placing the blame on himself as he often does. "I felt like it was consistently high. Yeah, maybe catchable, but it shouldn't be that hard on him."

3rd quarter, 6:05 (KC 20, MIN 13): Smith called for DPI

The Chiefs' second touchdown drive of the third quarter was full of moments where the Vikings had a chance to get off the field. There was Travis Kelce's remarkable contested catch over Metellus on a third down, which held up after Kevin O'Connell's challenge. Then, on fourth and 1 from near midfield, Smith was called for a 31-yard pass interference penalty on a ball that was under-thrown downfield. The contact went both ways, but if Smith had turned to play the ball, he might've avoided getting penalized. That would've been a turnover on downs.

Even after Kelce was called for an illegal block on the very next play, setting up first and 25, the Chiefs recovered and scored. Mahomes and Kelce connected five times on that drive alone, capping it with a touchdown to go up by 14.

The Vikings cut it to a one-score game early in the fourth quarter and managed to get the ball back, but the refs controversially picked up their DPI flag on a key fourth down play. When the Vikings managed to get it back again, they couldn't get off a Hail Mary attempt before Cousins was sacked.

So they fell to 1-4 — left to rue their missed opportunities and think about what could've been. That's been the story of the 2023 season for the Vikings.

Thanks for reading. Make sure to bookmark this site and check back daily for the latest Vikings news and analysis all season long.

Subscribe to the Inside the Vikings newsletter

Follow Will Ragatz on Twitter