PurplePTSD: Numbers Check: What The Vikings Must Improve Post-Bye

Press release from the PurplePTSD:

Josh Frey

2021-10-25

The Minnesota Vikings have come off their week 7 bye, and they are about to enter the most important stretch of their season. These next four weeks of games could very well define the season for the 3-3 Vikes. Before closing out the season with a relatively tame schedule of games against Detroit, Chicago X2, and San Francisco in four of their final seven games, they have a month from hell in front of them. In the next four weeks, the Vikings schedule includes a slate of Super Bowl contenders: Dallas, Baltimore, LA Chargers, and Green Bay. It’s a stretch of games where they undoubtedly need stars like Kirk Cousins, Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, and Justin Jefferson to shine.

If the season ended today, the Vikings would hold the seventh and final seed of the NFC playoffs, but of course, we still have 11 games to play. In order to have a real shot at postseason play, the Vikings realistically must go 2-2 in this upcoming stretch and keep their record even at 5-5 going into their game against San Francisco. For that to happen though, they must improve in a variety of areas in a short period of time. Here’s a look at some stats that Minnesota must improve in order to remain competitive against their high level competition that Halloween/November will bring.

Especially when going against top-tier competition, the Vikings cannot afford to beat themselves on a weekly basis. Something that was especially apparent in their week one loss to Cincinnati was the amount of penalties called against this team. While that game was certainly frustrating to watch, the penalty situation has somehow gotten worse over the past three weeks.

Over their past three games, the Vikings have been called for 25 penalties, at a rate of 8.3 flags per game. That is the second most in the NFL over that stretch. They’re very lucky that they have been playing teams like Carolina and Detroit in that stretch because a 2-1 record likely won’t happen for the Vikings schedule moving forward against Dallas, Baltimore, and Green Bay if they continue to play this way.

Kirk Cousins has been fantastic for large stretches of this season. However, the Vikings QB could probably be even more successful if Minnesota got a bit more creative in their play-calling. One aspect of that was expected to be Dalvin Cook’s involvement in the passing game. In week one, we saw plenty of that as Cook caught six of seven targets in the game.

However, since that time receptions have been few and far between for the veteran RB. In the three games he’s played since week one, Cook has just six total catches. Normally, I’d assume it was because the Vikings were easing him back into the offense after his injury problems. However, he had a season-high 29 carries in the week 6 win over Carolina. Minnesota needs to get Cook involved in more passing downs to keep defenses on their toes moving forward.

On the whole, the Vikings defense has been very solid this season. However, in certain situations we continue to see some appallingly bad numbers. One such situation is the final two minutes of the first half. It’s a part of the game that Vikings fans have torn their hair out watching on a weekly basis, capped off by boos in the most recent home game as Minnesota ran out the clock to end the half against Detroit.

This statistic was pointed out to me by Mr. Kirby O’Connor (whose article will come out later this afternoon), and it took me aback. The Vikings have been outscored 38-10 thus far in 2021 during the final two minutes of the first half. Essentially, the Vikings have been giving teams a free five-point advantage every game over a single two minute stretch of the game. This obviously cannot continue against high-powered offenses like Dallas who will take every advantage they can get. If this was the only big team on the Vikings schedule, then maybe it wouldn’t be an issue. Unfortunately, games like these are the norm moving forward.

This press release was produced by the PurplePTSD. The views expressed here are the author’s own.