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Matt Daniels explains Vikings failed onside kick recovery
Vikings special teams coach Matt Daniels gave a detailed explanation of the failed onside kick recovery at Chicago and what Johnny Mundt should've done.
EAGAN, Minn. (FOX 9) - Everything that could go wrong for the Minnesota Vikings in the last two minutes at Soldier Field did before they eventually got a 30-27 win in overtime.
The Bears, down 27-16, rallied for 11 points in the final 30 seconds. A touchdown, a two-point conversion and a successful onside kick recovery to get into field goal range. Vikings special teams coach Matt Daniels went into great detail on Tuesday about what went wrong for Minnesota to not get the ball and seal the game.
Johnny Mundt was blocking on the play, the ball hit his foot before going 10 yards and the Bears pounced on the live football.
"Johnny’s just got to have some awareness right there. He was just going to go block, and didn’t see where the ball was. He was so locked in on picking up his block that he didn’t see where the football was," Daniels said. "At the end of the day I’ve got to reiterate to those guys whenever we get those type of balls, we’re in full-on go and get it mode regardless of how far it gets kicked."
The watermelon kick
The Bears used the watermelon kick, where the football is placed on the ground horizontally, as opposed to on a tee. The goal is to have the ball wobble and get to 10 yards so the kicking team can box out the receiving team. The recovering team, if it can, has to go get the ball before it goes 10 yards.
Daniels said he spoke with Mundt after the play, and he wasn’t confident he could get the ball. He never saw it, because he was blocking.
"We should go get the ball, the No. 1 thing is go retrieve the ball. We’re not in the business of waiting to go get it," Daniels said.
Mundt gave his side after the game Sunday, calling it a freak play.
"It was a slow roller. If I could do it over I would go for the ball. But my assignment was to get No. 2 and secure for the backline guy to come up and grab it. It's a team game. They picked it up," Mundt said.
Why it matters
It was the third onside kick the Vikings have faced this season. Mundt recovered one earlier, and Nick Muse had the other. Sunday’s was the first declared onside kick of the season to be recovered by the kicking team.
The Bears won the toss in overtime and took the ball, needing a touchdown to pull off an improbable win. The Vikings’ defense got a stop, and Sam Darnold led the offense down the field for the game-winning field goal by Parker Romo. Let’s learn from it, and hope it never happens again.