The Minnesota Vikings are 5-3-1 at their Week 10 bye. Not bad. They are a half game behind the 6-3 Chicago Bears in the NFC North. Entering the 2018 NFL Season there was a lot of shine on the Vikings. They were in the NFC Championship game last season. They added quarterback Kirk Cousins to finally solidify football's most important position. In a less splashy, but nearly as significant, move they also added defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson. Those are two big additions to a team that was one game short of the Super Bowl the year before. There was a lot of shine on the 2018 Minnesota Vikings entering the season.
The Vikings lost a lot of that shine during a four day stretch that spanned Weeks 3 and 4. In a game that was nothing short of a fluke occurrence, they were rolled by the lowly Buffalo Bills 27-6. If this Vikings team played that Bills team 1,000 times the Bills might win a single game. Nothing went right before the game, as defensive end Everson Griffen suffered a mental break, and nothing went right during the game, as Cousins fumbled the ball away serving up easy Bills scores on consecutive possessions to start the game. The game was a fluke. A fluke that unfortunately, and rightly, counts as a loss. Three days later the Vikings had to travel half way across the country to play the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night. That game turned into a 38-31 shootout that the Rams won. Cousins and the Vikings offense looked great without a hint of a run game. The defense was a disaster. They missed Griffen. They missed a lot of things, like communication.
The two losses in four days left this Super Bowl contender at an apparently floundering 1-2-1. I thought then and still think now that the Vikings were a good team trying to find their way. I didn't think that the defense that was on the field in Los Angeles was the Vikings defense. I didn't think that the offense was anything close to what it could be because a healthy Dalvin Cook had yet to become a part of it.
One personally puzzling fallout from the Vikings-Rams game was the general perception of each team's defense. Neither team played much defense that Thursday night. It was an offensive show. Yet, it was only the Vikings defense that was questioned. Last year's best defense was done. Teams had finally figured out Mike Zimmer's defense. That was the general takeaway of the Vikings defense. After an offseason spent stocking it with stars, the Rams defense was supposed to be one of the league's best. Cousins spent the evening shredding it. And he shredded it without the threat of a running game. Sure, cornerback Aqib Talib, one of the new stars, wasn't on the field but the Rams had Wade Phillips on the sideline. One of the best defensive schemers surely should keep in check an offense without a running game. He didn't and his players did little to slow the Vikings. I still don't get how the Rams defense could come out of that game without a host of questions. I guess that problems get masked for the team that wins the game.
Since that 1-2-1 start the Vikings have gone 4-1. That one loss was a 30-20 loss to the 8-1 New Orleans Saints. That was a game in which Vikings miscues handed the Saints 17 unanswered points. The Saints needed those easy points because their explosive offense did little (270 yards of total offense, 120 passing yards by Drew Brees) against a Vikings defense missing three starters (corner Xavier Rhodes, linebacker Anthony Barr, safety Andrew Sendejo). Everson Griffen returned but was limited and rusty after missing five games.
Two of the Vikings three losses came against the Rams and the Saints. There's some good but more bad in that. Those two teams are the unquestioned two best in the conference. The Vikings were in position to win both. The fact that they didn't win either means much more than the fact that they in position to do so. That's the good. The bad is that if the Vikings can't get past the Rams and Saints they are just another team that's sitting at home at the end of the season.
The good through nine games:
Despite some talking heads in the media, Kirk Cousins has been great. The best indication of his impact on the offense is this. If the Vikings have a reasonable 3rd-and-long, I have confidence that the offense can convert it. That's because of Cousins. If the Vikings are down by a score or more at nearly any point in the game, I have confidence that the offense can get those scores. That's because of Cousins. It's nothing that can be measured through analytics. It's a feeling. It's confidence. The last time that I have this sort of confidence in a Vikings quarterback is when Brett Favre led the team in 2009. Unfortunately, as with Favre, Cousins is prone some mystifying mistakes. That's my one criticism of him. The odd thing about Cousins' mistakes is that they aren't interceptions. He's thrown five interceptions on the year. Only two of those five are truly on him. Bad hands, an abbreviated route, and blind bad luck are the reasons for the other three. Cousins' mistakes involve ball security in the pocket. He has to improve in that area. He has to be more aware of the ball and where he and it is in the pocket. Other than that, Cousins has been great.
Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs are simply the best pair of receivers in the league. They make defensive backs look silly.
The Vikings had no running game in the first quarter-plus of the season. In the first game, Dalvin Cook was shaking off rust after spending about a year rehabbing a torn ACL. In the second game, he suffered a hamstring injury. Other than a brief appearance against the Rams, he was out until the Week 9 game against the Detroit Lions. He exploded for a 70-yard run in that game. On that run, it looked like his hamstring was healthy. His breakaway ability and versatility will be a huge boost to the offense moving forward. Latavius Murray started making an impact in the run game over the past several games. A healthy Cook and a steady Murray is a very good thing. The Vikings added former Lions back Ameer Abdullah off waivers last week. He has the quickness and versatility to add a little something extra to the Vikings backfield. I'm very curious to see how he fits into the Vikings offensive plans.
After the Rams disaster, the Vikings defense made strides in the right direction. The interesting thing about their improvements is that they started making them while missing key players to injury. One player that has been dominant all season is defensive end Danielle Hunter. With 11.5 sacks, he's dueling Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald for the league lead. Hunter is making plays all over the field. Behind the line, at the line, sideline to sideline. Everywhere. More often than not he can't be blocked. If he continues on his current pace, he should be in the running for the Defensive Player of the Year award. With Everson Griffen looking more like his old self in the Week 9 game, the Vikings again have the defensive line depth that they hoped to have before the season. The talent and depth now available could make the performance against the Lions in Week 9 (10 sacks) a an every game thing. That makes everything easier for the talented defense behind them.
The Vikings and Cousins have played well on the road. 2-1-1. The one loss was on a very short turnaround, half way across the country against the Rams.
The bad through nine games:
The offensive line. The line has to be better. It's as simple as that. The performance of the offensive line through nine games makes the performance of Cousins even more remarkable. Center Pat Elflein missed the first two games and left tackle Riley Reiff missed a few games. They are the best players on the line. They were missed when they were out but the line hasn't been where it needs to be (at least average) when both were on the field. Rookie Brian O'Neill stepped into the starting right tackle job in Week 8. That could be a very good thing. It looks like he has the potential to be an offensive line cornerstone for a long time but he's still a rookie now. Right guard Mike Remmers had his best game of the season last week against the Lions. It's his first season on the interior of the line so maybe that game is a sign that he's hitting his stride at his new position. The offensive line is a work in progress. Hopefully, they are starting to progress in the right direction.
The kicking game. The kicking game lost (tied is more accurate) the Week 2 game against the Green Bay Packers. Rookie kicker Daniel Carlson missed two field goal attempts in overtime. Instead of a win the Vikings were left with a tie. Carlson was released the next day. Former Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey was signed to fix the kicking issues. Bailey has made far more than he's missed but he's still had some misses. He can't have those misses but it feels like the kicking game has been improved.
The Vikings are 3-2 at home. They shouldn't lose two of five games at home.
5-3-1. There's some consolation to being close to the league's best. Both on the field and in the standings. It's also reassuring that the offense and defense haven't really played to their best. The offense has been explosive and productive and Dalvin Cook has yet to become a part of it. If he can stay on the field he will be a huge problem for defenses. With Thielen and Diggs, the offense becomes one of "pick-your-poison" when Cook is on the field. The defense looks like it's shaking off that Rams game and becoming great again. They just have to get the injured players healthy. Hopefully this week off helped do that. The Vikings are a half game behind the Bears in the division and they get the Bears next Sunday. Everything that the Vikings hoped to achieve this season is still on the table for them.
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