Zulgad's Roundup: Vikings aren't perfect, but they are among the best in the NFC
Coach Kevin O'Connell knows many would like to see the Vikings "steamroll the NFL every single week,” but he also knows his team has eight wins in 10 games and has put itself in an excellent spot.
The Vikings’ 23-13 victory on Sunday in Tennessee failed to generate much excitement among the team’s fanbase, in large part because it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing to watch. The Titans (2-8) aren’t good, the Vikings failed to blow them out and that disappointed some.
Why? I’m not quite sure.
The focus should be on the fact the Vikings have responded to a two-game losing streak against Detroit and the Rams by bouncing back with victories over three AFC South teams — Indianapolis (5-6), Jacksonville (2-9) and Tennessee.
None of the wins were pretty but Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold rebounded from a poor performance (three picks, no touchdowns) in a 12-7 victory at Jacksonville to post a career-best 90.8 Pro Football Focus grade at Tennessee. He threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.
The Vikings’ defense gave up too many big plays to Titans quarterback Will Levis — a 98-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter led the list — but the run defense held Tennessee to only 33 yards on 19 carries, a 1.7-yard average. Levis had 18 yards on seven scrambles and the Titans’ running backs accounted for 15 yards on 12 attempts.
The Vikings rank first in the NFL in run defense, giving up 74.4 yards per game, and the scoring defense is fourth at 17 points per game.
Minnesota is 8-2 and holding the fifth seed in the NFC playoff picture. The Vikings’ bad luck is they are in the NFC North with the Detroit Lions (9-1), who embarrassed Jacksonville, 52-6, on Sunday and right now are the best team in the league. The only other NFC team that can match the Vikings’ .800 winning percentage is the Philadelphia Eagles (8-2), who beat Washington last Thursday and have won six in a row after a 2-2 start.
“I know that it would probably be really fun for us to just steamroll the NFL every single week,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said after Sunday’s game. “It's just not the way it's going to go, which also, in my opinion, provides a lot of opportunity to grow and get better and understand exactly what happened on some of the plays that they made and improve. Just constantly chase that progression knowing that we're a good football team. … We've got the right mindset.”