Vikings radio analyst and ex-player calls Minnesota's offense 'broken'

Do the Vikings have a young quarterback problem, or do their issues on offense run even deeper than that? After perhaps the worst offensive performance in the history of the franchise, it's a fair question to ask.

Ben Leber, a former Vikings linebacker who is now an analyst for KFAN Radio and the Vikings Entertainment Network, was on the sideline for Sunday's shutout loss in Seattle. He records a postgame analysis video for his social media channels each week, and in this one, he went as far as to say he thinks the Vikings' offense is broken.

"I know this is gonna sound bold, but I think our offense is broken," Leber said. "I think systemically, our offense is broken, and I'm not sure what it's gonna take to fix it."

Leber was on the field the last time the Vikings were shut out, which happened in November 2007 in Green Bay. He joked that he's blocked that traumatic memory out of his brain. With this one fresh on his mind, Leber tried to find ways to make sense of what he had just witnessed.

"You know that line in Dumb & Dumber when one of them says 'Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber, you go and do something like this?' This is how I feel about this Vikings offense right now," he said. "After last week to this week, just when I thought the offense couldn't get any worse, they go out and have a performance like they did today."

0 points, 11 first downs, 162 net yards, and 5 turnovers was the final line for the Vikings' offense in Max Brosmer's first NFL start. The bar for Brosmer to be an improvement over J.J. McCarthy was very low, and he didn't even come close to it. And while Brosmer was obviously awful in this game, it was a brutally tough situation for a debut. Not only was he playing in a hostile environment against an elite defense, he was doing so without two starting offensive linemen (Christian Darrisaw and Donovan Jackson) due to injuries. A third, Ryan Kelly, left during the game.

"Our offensive line is beat up, we're injured, we missed the left side of our offensive line, we missed Ryan Kelly again in this game because of a hip injury, so we had three backups playing on our offensive line against maybe the best defensive front that we've played this whole season," Leber said. "It's not gonna work. Midway through the fourth quarter, we had 11 yards rushing. Awful. I know that we want to run the football, but it's hard to when our offensive line can't block anybody. They had seven guys in coverage most of the time, didn't have to blitz. Brosmer's out there running for his life, and then when he wasn't he was throwing to guys that were covered."

Leber also touched on the game's pivotal play, which was Brosmer's disastrous pick-six late in the second quarter. Facing a 4th and 1 at the Seahawks' 4 after a rare takeaway from their defense, the Vikings opted to go for it and try to get Brosmer on the perimeter with a rollout pass. The play was blown up immediately, and their rookie QB made matters worse with a blind underhand heave that turned into an 85-yard touchdown the other way. Kevin O'Connell explained after the game that he called the pass because the Vikings hadn't been running the ball with any kind of success.

"All of you at home, I agree with you," Leber said. "I don't know what we're doing putting the ball in Max Brosmer's hands on 4th and 1 on that play, in their red zone. On a rollout pass (for) a 'non-athletic' quarterback against one of the best defensive fronts in the league. It took away points, it took away opportunity, I think it killed the confidence of this team. Run the ball. I know that we weren't running it with amazing efficiency, but it's one yard. It was actually probably less than one yard."

The Vikings have been awful all season in short-yardage situations on third or fourth down, and they continue to pass the ball at a very high rate in those spots. They're not running it very effectively either. The offensive line continues to be a mess. In the passing game, McCarthy and Brosmer have both struggled immensely, but to what extent does that fall on O'Connell for not putting his young quarterbacks in better positions to succeed with his schemes and play calls? Leber's assessment that O'Connell's offense is broken right now feels very accurate.

"I don't know, everybody," he said. "Let's hope that this is rock bottom. Let's hope this is it. I can't believe I'm saying this, hopefully McCarthy is back next week because he actually gives us a fighting chance against the Commanders."

I hope this is rock bottom for our Offense because I don’t know how much worse it can get pic.twitter.com/MfWHoEEqxq
— Ben Leber (@nacholeber) December 1, 2025

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