After a 5-0 start to the season, the Minnesota Vikings have lost two in a row, will be without star left tackle Christian Darrisaw for the rest of the season and suddenly are struggling on both sides of the ball.
The offense is struggling to sustain drives, partially due to self-inflicted setbacks, and the defense has allowed over 26 points per game in the past four contests.
While it may seem like the Vikings' season is falling apart, the game this weekend against the Indianapolis Colts serves as a good reminder at a good time of how a team can overcome adversity if it doesn't panic.
When the Colts last played the Vikings, Indianapolis built a 33-0 lead at halftime, even forcing a three-and-out on Minnesota's first possession of the second half. Step-by-step, the Vikings fought their way back.
First, the defense forced a three-and-out. Then, the offense scored a touchdown. Even a Colts field goal the next possession didn't lead to any letdown, and the Vikings responded with two more touchdowns and two more three-and-outs. Still, there were more setbacks, turnovers and missed opportunities, but the Vikings continued to battle and ended up with a 39-36 win in overtime to complete the biggest comeback in NFL history.
Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips remembers that 2022 game well, joking this week, “I hope I never have to go through that again." However, he did have a good takeaway from it.
“I think it’s just a good lesson for everyone that the game’s never out of reach and it’s never time to panic," he said. "If we just go out and execute and do the things that we had hoped to do early in the game, we can move the ball and be successful.”
Even though many of the players from that game are no longer with the Vikings, the lesson is still true.
Many of Minnesota's offensive struggles can be tied back to getting behind the chains and pre-snap penalties. Clean those up and the Vikings have a good chance to stay on the field longer and put up more points.
The same is true defensively, where defensive coordinator Brian Flores says cleaning up penalties, communication and the details are all that's need to get back to the high-level play from earlier in the season.
“We’ve gotta have intentional focus to do everything we can to win one football game while also understanding and acknowledging, both coaches and players, things that have contributed to losing two games in five days,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “The good thing is we won five in a row before that so these guys hopefully haven’t forgotten the standard they kinda set for themselves against some really good football teams.”
The good news is the Vikings aren't behind 33-0 at halftime, as their strong start puts them in a good spot despite the two-game skid.
“I think these are the times — I’m saying ‘these are the times’ like we’re 2-6 — we’re a 5-2 football team," special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said this week. "This isn’t true adversity that we just hit all of a sudden, and so that’s why you gotta lean on that experience.”
The team's coaches and veteran players know every team goes through struggles over the course of a season, and the Vikings are still in a good spot. They're also getting reinforcements in tight end T.J. Hockenson, guard Dalton Risner — if not this week then next — and newly acquired left tackle Cam Robinson, and linebacker Blake Cashman should be back soon, too.
If the Vikings just take it one series, one play at a time, just like they did in the second-half of that game the last time the Colts came to U.S. Bank Stadium, they can again reestablish themselves as one of the best teams in the NFL.“I think the biggest thing is ignoring the outside noise," Daniels said. "There’s still a lot of confidence and self-belief within this building on how we want this season to play out and what the success of it has to look like, and at the end of the day, it’s on us as coaches, players to take a hard look in the mirror and understand that we just gotta get back to our roots and just do simple better at the end of the day. Success lives in simplicity.”
