The Vikings suffer from “self-inflicted” problems in the loss to the Rams

The Minnesota Vikings struggled again after a hot start.

For the seventh straight game, the Vikings sprinted out of the gate in the first quarter, scoring back-to-back touchdown drives on Thursday night in Los Angeles. However, for the second straight game, Kevin O'Connell's club couldn't keep up the pace, hitting just two field goals in its final six drives in a 30-20 loss to the LA Rams.

“We just didn't hold up enough and weren't on the field enough,” O'Connell said on the team's official website. “I mean, 50 games, again, when it's a game like this and their offense makes some plays and sustains drives and kind of eats up a lot of time, it can feel like an awfully short game for you as an offense if you are . “It’s either scoring or going backwards, either self-inflicted or sacks, so we’ve just got to try to find a way to mitigate that.”

The Vikings had a 386 to 276 yardage margin, allowed more first downs (26 to 17) and went 2 of 4 in the red zone, while the Rams turned all three trips into touchdowns.

As in the loss to Detroit, the Vikings began to stub their toe after the opening salvo. This “self-inflicted” word was once again the main chorus.

“I feel like the last two losses were just self-inflicted,” receiver Justin Jefferson said. “Not making certain plays that we need is definitely something that hurts us in the long run.”

Minnesota was penalized nine times – five times giving the Rams offense a new set of downs, and several of those were pre-snap downs from the offense.

The Vikings defense struggled to pressure Matthew Stafford, not sacking the quarterback once and only earning four plays with QB pressure. The Vikings have allowed more than 30 points in two straight games after not allowing 30 points in any game during their 5-0 start.

Sam Darnold was also sacked three times, one of which came deep in the fourth quarter and forced a punt that allowed the Rams to miss most of the game. The final sack came on a safety in which the Rams' Byron Young tripped the QB in the end zone but got his hands on the facemask.

Referee Tra Blake said in a pool report that he and referee Carl Paganelli — the two referees closest to the game — had no clear idea of ​​the potential penalty that could have extended the Vikings' deficit to eight points at 1:36 left over.

“The quarterback was facing the opposite direction of me, so I couldn’t get a good look at him. I wasn’t looking and I didn’t see the face mask being pulled off,” Blake said, via the Associated Press. “The referee had players between him and the quarterback, so he didn’t get a look at it. I don't see it.

Face mask calls cannot be reviewed via instant replay.

Darnold did not blame the Vikings' failure to accept for the loss.

“The face mask — it is what it is,” Darnold said. “I thought there was a lot we could have done to not put ourselves in the situation we found ourselves in. We just have to keep playing better and not put ourselves in this situation right from the start.”

With a few extra days off before their Week 9 game on Sunday night against the Indianapolis Colts, the Vikings will be looking for answers as to why they can't sustain their fast starts.

“We just have to keep breathing down people’s necks,” Jefferson said. “Just go out there and execute every single play for 60 minutes. That’s what it comes down to – at the end of the day, who wants it more? … No team is just a sad team, and we’ll just go anywhere” (them). That won't happen.