Fantasy Football: 5 Things We Learned in Week 11

The Vikings Offensive Line Is a Serious Problem

Things have not gone the way the Minnesota Vikings planned this year. After last night's loss (which wasn't really as close as the final score would suggest), the team has fallen to 5-4-1, second behind the now 7-3 Chicago Bears in the NFC North.

Their defense has had its ups and downs, but overall, they've been solid. The real problem for the team has stemmed from their offense. Or. more specifically, their offensive line.

Kirk Cousins has been fighting uphill battles every step of the way this season. The offensive line ranks 29th in the league, according to Pro Football Focus' rankings, and had Cousins fleeing for his life on almost every passing play against the Bears. He managed to escape with taking only two sacks, but the constant pressure the Bears' defense applied to him was no doubt a factor in his two interceptions.

It wasn't until the final drive, when the offense shifted to shorter passes to Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, that they really got anything going through the air -- 154 of his 262 passing yards and both touchdowns came in the final quarter of the game.

This will make things particularly difficult for Cousins in their upcoming games against the Green Bay Packers (who have produced the second-most sacks in the league to date, with 34) and the Seattle Seahawks. They'll need to figure something out this week to protect their quarterback in what is a very important divisional game versus the Pack.

Those offensive line woes extended even further into the running game. The Bears bottled up the Vikings running backs to a measly 1.57 yards per carry. More impressively, they kept Dalvin Cook and Latavius Murray to just three "successful" rushed on the entire night -- in other words, only 3 of their 14 carries added points to the Vikings' expected points total. It was a truly brutal night on the ground for Cook and Murray.

As good as the Vikings' offense seemed coming into the season, they've been pretty disappointing this year. They've almost become a matchup to target with your D/ST slot in fantasy football with Cousins averaging an interception, 2.4 sacks and 0.6 fumbles per game over the last five weeks -- games that included the New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals and Detroit Lions. Because of their offensive line, we need to downgrade our expectations for this team's offense going forward and upgrade our outlooks for their opponents' D/ST's.