Do we believe in the Minnesota Vikings?
They’re off to a 5-1 start and are one of just four NFL teams with one or fewer losses entering their home game Sunday against the Cardinals (3-4). Yet it feels like one of the quietest 5-1 starts in memory for an NFL team.
That’s because the Vikings have made it a habit to tease, particularly with quarterback Kirk Cousins. His statistics often scream “Pro Bowl,” but when the biggest games arrive later in the season and in the playoffs, Cousins and the Vikings too often fall short.
Another contributing factor to the “paper tiger” aura around the Vikings is that they’ve played just one game against a team currently with a winning record — a 24-7 loss to the Eagles, who happen to be the only remaining undefeated team in the league.
The Vikings’ past four wins have been decided by an average of 5.5 points, and three have required comebacks from fourth-quarter deficits. And, their yardage differential with their opponents of minus-270 ranks No. 25 in the league.
So, the Vikings hardly have been dominant, and they haven’t been pretty. But in fairness to Minnesota, winning is all that should matter, and they can play only the teams on their schedule.
Though the Cardinals have a sub-.500 record, they do represent a challenge for the Vikings, thanks to elusive quarterback Kyler Murray. Arizona started 7-0 last season, but is 7-11 since.
The Cardinals are coming off a 42-34 win over the Saints last week, in which their offense looked rejuvenated by the return of star receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who finished six-game suspension for using a banned substance. Hopkins immediately gave Murray and the Cardinals a lift in their highest-scoring game in four years under head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
Hopkins finished with 10 catches for 103 yards and drew three penalties on New Orleans defensive backs. Since Hopkins was acquired in 2021, the Cardinals are 9-2 when he plays and 5-9 without him.
On the other side of the field, the Vikings boast one of the best receivers in the league, Justin Jefferson, who has 46 receptions for 654 yards and two touchdowns this season. Jefferson, in his career, averages 94.1 receiving yards per game.
The Vikings are 10th in the NFL in yards passing per game, but just 20th in yards per passing play — a sign that teams are doing all they can to prevent Jefferson from beating them.
Much of the Vikings’ success has come from new-school head coach Kevin O’Connell, who’s very dialed into analytics and having his team excel at the little, situational things. He calls it “winning in the margins.”
“I think it comes down to those margins and how can we be good on some plays and situations that maybe don’t always get talked about on Monday morning,’’ O’Connell told reporters. “But they’re winning plays and winning philosophies for us currently now as we continue to move forward. [But] those margins become even smaller, and we’re going to have to be that much better.”
One thing O’Connell has addressed with his team is the value of dominating the minutes before halftime. The Vikings lead the NFL with 59 points in the final four minutes of second quarters. They, too, have also played well late in games and rank No. 5 in the NFL with an average of 8.5 points per fourth quarter.
The Vikings are tied for the NFL’s second-highest turnover margin (plus-four) and are tied for the seventh-fewest turnovers (six), half of which came in the loss to the Eagles. They’re tied for the fifth-most takeaways (10), and five of those takeaways have come in the fourth quarter.
Minnesota, too, is tied with the Rams for the NFL’s fewest penalties (28).
So, the Vikings are excelling at the little things, which may turn out to add up to bigger things, like a first playoff berth in four years.
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