The Minnesota Vikings have been one of the surprises of the NFL season through two weeks. Kevin O’Connell has the Vikings playing great ball so far this season, and they are 2-0 after a big upset over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
Ahead of their Week 3 clash with the Houston Texans , defensive tackle Harrison Phillips unveiled the secret to the Vikings’ success on NFL Network’s The Insiders.
“I think that we have a lot of very disciplined, unselfish players,” Phillips said. “When you’re playing for the guy next to you, you just have a little extra chip on your shoulder and a little more gas in the tank.”
The Vikings have been successful with a balanced attack, as both sides of the ball are playing very well. As long as the defense keeps getting stops, Sam Darnold takes care of the ball and they can remain efficient on the ground, there’s no reason why they can’t keep this run going.
Are the Vikings contenders or pretenders in the NFC?
The Vikings are hard to gauge after a 2-0 start, but they can make some noise in a wide-open NFC with the kind of football that they’re playing right now. The question is, can they keep it up?
Much of the focus will be on Sam Darnold and the offense, but it’s the Vikings’ defense that can be the real strength of the team. Brian Flores is doing the same kind of junk balling as last season, but the Vikings have supplemented the wild scheme with better personnel that fits the play style and some more experience, and the early results have been excellent.
Flores and the Vikings had Brock Purdy in a blender on Sunday, as the 49ers’ lethal attack couldn’t get anything going consistently in the loss. This Minnesota defense has become adept at causing chaos while not giving up a ton of big plays from opposing offenses. They roam around in crazy formations before the snap before almost always changing the picture on opposing quarterbacks after the snap, making them a very difficult and unique unit to prepare for.
Offensively, Kevin O’Connell has found the right blend for Darnold and the offense to succeed. The Vikings are running the ball well with Aaron Jones in the backfield, rushing for over 128 yards per game as a team. Darnold has been patient for the most part, taking what the defense is giving him and keeping them ahead of the sticks.
The Vikings’ signal caller has also mixed in a bit of the volatility that he showed earlier in his career. A few times a game, Darnold will launch a long bomb for a touchdown or rip a tight-window throw over the middle, but he will also put the ball in harm’s way sometimes. However, Minnesota needs those positive explosive plays to survive at times.
The Vikings still have to prove a little bit more to be true contenders. However, they have clearly found a formula that works for now. With elite play callers on both sides of the ball, they could be a very dangerous team as the NFC playoff picture starts to form this season.
