“That was the deciding factor: his first lead was taken away, he was quiet in the pocket, he just went into rhythm and threw an absolutely beautiful ball to Dan,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “And then you saw him get to the third and fourth developments, slowly [in the game] there to Jaylen Naylor [for 16 yards] or Myron [Mitchell for 16 yards] at the rear [of the play]. When you see him come back to it, that’s growth.” Contrast that with Mond’s final shot of the first half in the Vikings’ 26-20 loss to the Raiders in the period opener: He ran left, then right, avoiding a three-man rush as teammates, first Bisi Johnson and Trishton Jackson, Ihmir Smith-Marsette and Zach Davidson then raised their hands to call the ball. Mond threw behind Jackson and out of the back of the end zone as Smith-Marsette put his hands on his helmet and O’Connell called for Greg Joseph’s second short field goal after a play where he thought Mond had a chance for a touchdown. . O’Connell approached his first preseason game, his opening rite of passage as the 10th head coach in Vikings history, with two goals: To keep key players healthy and to learn as much as he could about the young players who would take the field in Allegiant Stadium on Sunday. The first target was easy, with all of the Vikings’ Pro Bowl skill players and five defensive starters not playing. If O’Connell could claim to have succeeded in the latter, it might be because of experiences like Mond’s. “I wanted to come out and win this game,” O’Connell said, “but we’re going to make sure we don’t miss an opportunity to have some real teaching moments.” The Vikings lost because of their inability to finish drives in the first half and some defensive mistakes throughout. gave up two second-half scoring drives and allowed the Raiders to hold the ball for the final 3 minutes, 44 seconds. But with some dynamic moments from young running backs Ty Chandler and Kene Nwangwu, flashes from defensemen like Brian Asamoah and Patrick Jones and especially a second-half performance by Mond, the Vikings might be able to hang on to something. Mond threw two second-half TD passes to Albert Wilson, finishing 9-for-14 for 119 yards. Sean Mannion, who played the first three drives and returned for one more in the fourth quarter, was 8 of 12 for 79 yards. The Vikings outgained the Raiders 172-94 in the first half, but were held to 66 yards of penalties. They went 0-4 on third downs and took…