3 mistakes Minnesota Vikings made in the 2021 NFL Draft

1. Allowing the rival Bears to draft Justin Fields despite reported interest

Kirk Cousins is slated to be on the Vikings for a maximum of the next two seasons, so looking at a succession plan had to be in the cards for the team. Considering they originally sat at the 14th-overall selection, they did have a shot at one of the top five prospects falling to them. As it turns out, the signal-caller they were targeting was Ohio State’s Justin Fields.

According to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin, the Vikings were set to select Fields with their first-round pick. However, Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune noted that while the team tried to trade up for Fields, not everyone in the building was sold.

With the Vikings passing on Fields, the worst possible outcome happened for the team — the rival Chicago Bears landed the Buckeyes quarterback.

The New York Giants, who had just lost out on Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith, held court with teams looking to trade up. The Bears, looking to right the wrongs of the 2017 trade-up for Mitchell Trubisky, offered the 20th overall pick, a 2021 fifth-rounder, a 2022 first-rounder and a 2022 fourth-rounder to the Giants in exchange for pick No. 11. The price was deemed too steep for the Vikings, who decided to trade down in a deal with the Jets.

While they did miss on Fields, the team is high on Mond, who they drafted in the top of the third-round. In fact, Goessling said some in the Vikings organization liked Mond as much as Fields. That is good for the Vikings if that is how they feel. But, the Fields decision could loom large over the Vikings if he does thrive in Chicago.

Passing on the quarterback you wanted was hard enough, but watching him to go a team in your division has to hit hard.