We are at the crossroads of the Minnesota Vikings 2023 season.
Sitting at 6-6, the Vikings have both looked dead in the water and like a legit threat to win the NFC North. As things sit right now, they have lost their last two games after pulling out five straight wins, all without superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
The bye week comes at a good time for the Vikings. Jefferson just came off of injured reserve and will play against the Las Vegas Raiders in week 14. It also gives players like Akayleb Evans and Marcus Davenport one more week to get back onto the field.
As we reflect what is going on with the Vikings during the bye week, these stats are the ones that define them.
Managing editor Tyler Forness: 13.5 sacks for Danielle Hunter
Going into the year, there were many conversations about whether or not the Vikings would or should keep Hunter for the season. He wanted a raise (which was well deserved) and was also on the final year of his. The Vikings chose to give him that raise with incentives and it’s paid off in a major way.
Hunter has played both incredibly well and worth every penny the Vikings gave him. Hunter needs just 0.5 sacks from collecting all $3 million in bonuses the Vikings added into his contract. Pair his 13.5 sacks this season with 18.0 tackles for loss and you have a potential all-pro player in 2023.
Whatever the Vikings plans are for the future, they need to include Hunter, who has made it known he wants to stay in Minnesota.
Columnist Judd Zulgad: 24 turnovers
That total leads the NFL and is the reason the Vikings don’t have a far better record. The Vikings’ minus-8 turnover differential is tied with New England for second-to-last in the league. Only Washington, at minus-9, is worse. The Vikings have lost an incredible 14 fumbles in 12 games, the most in the NFL and three more than Jacksonville’s 11. NFL teams do endless work on ball security and Kevin O’Connell’s team is no exception. The issue has to be cleaned up – Josh Dobbs threw four interceptions in Monday’s loss to the Bears – or the Vikings won’t be making a second consecutive playoff appearance.
Columnist Saivion Mixson: 9th in Defensive DVOA
In 2022, the Vikings were winning games despite their performance on the defensive side of the football. They allowed almost six yards a play, seven net yards per passing attempt. Basically, they couldn’t stop it from raining if they were in a desert.
But under Brian Flores, this team is ranked ninth in total defensive DVOA and is letting up almost a full yard less per play and per net passing attempt. To see the impact the philosophical shift from Ed Donatell to Flores has brought in such a short time is astonishing. The defense is playing faster. Camryn Bynum, Josh Metellus and D.J. Wonnum are having career years. We continue to see the best version of stalwart veterans like Harrison Smith and Jordan Hicks and, of course the unleashing of Danielle Hunter.
When Flores was hired, the goal was competency. Just be competent on that side of the football and the offense can take it from there. But now, with the uncertainty on the offensive side, the Vikings are still well in the playoff race, and it’s because of their, I can’t believe I’m saying this, top-ten defensive unit.
Columnist Chris Spooner: 6-6 record
We’ve all heard the saying “you are what your record says you are”, and it’s true. At the end of the day, for all the good and the bad that has come from this season, the Vikings are a middle-of-the-road team. They’ve done well to recover from their disastrous 1-4 start, but at the end of the day this team simply does not have enough juice to make any real noise. They may wind up making the playoffs, which would be an incredible accomplishment given where they started the season, but they’ll likely be one-and-done in the playoffs. You can make the argument that making the playoffs is actually a detriment to this team, as they have real questions at the quarterback position, and the success likely puts them out of reach for one of the top prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft.
The other side of that coin is that we’ve seen time and again over the past few years that being the top quarterback drafted doesn’t necessarily ensure being the best quarterback of the class. And all of that conversation is a moot point if Kirk Cousins does recover well from the Achilles injury and returns to the team in 2024.
