"In what sounded like a bit of a mixed message, Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb has done "some good things." But the coaches are also going to work with McNabb on his mechanics in practice this week to improve his accuracy.

"It's one of the things that we're going to go through this week in practice," Frazier said the day after a 26-23 overtime loss to Detroit dropped the Vikings to 0-3. "Just looking at what we're doing with his mechanics, whether it be his drops or whether it be the footwork, whatever we need to do to help improve some of those balls that aren't quite on target."

Through Sunday's games, the Vikings rank 24th in the league in yards per game and 29th in passing. McNabb's passer rating of 78.1 is the fourth lowest in the NFC and his completion percentage of 58.0 is third lowest.

The most significant passing stat: McNabb is 9-for-24 on third down, a 37.5 percent completion rate that is easily the lowest in the league.

Accuracy was a problem again Sunday against the Lions, especially in the third quarter, when the Vikings failed to convert on third down. McNabb was 10-for-18 for 108 yards in the second half, but he was 1-for-6 on third down. Some of McNabb's passes were short of receivers, but a couple were overthrown. Most notable was a third-and-5 from the Detroit 31 late in the game with the Lions leading by a field goal. Bernard Berrian got behind his man but McNabb overthrew him."