Ever since the Minnesota Vikings hired them, the new front office crew tried convincing all of us that their new culture would lead to immediate success. New general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell brought positive energy to TCO Performance Center. Players gushed throughout OTAs and training camp about the culture change. That’s easy to do before there are ample opportunities to assess shortcomings on live TV. The true test of this new energy would come when the Vikings started playing games.
So far, the results have been as good as anyone could have expected, at least in terms of wins and losses. The Vikings are 5-1, sitting at the No. 2 seed in a conference full of underachievers. They trail only the Philadelphia Eagles, the team that trounced them 24-7 in Week 2.
Outside of that, the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have major question marks with their Hall of Fame quarterbacks. The Los Angeles Rams may be fresh off of a Super Bowl victory, but they are 3-4. Hell, the Seattle Seahawks are leading the NFC West right now with Geno Smith at quarterback. The Dallas Cowboys boast a great defense, but can we really trust them in the playoffs?
Still, the Vikings have plenty to clean up if they want to be a true contender. The defense hasn’t been great against the pass. Justin Jefferson has been on fire, but the rest of the supporting cast has been underwhelming. And Greg Joseph has been about as reliable as we have come to expect from our kickers in Minnesota.
With that, let’s look at five numbers that tell the story of the 2022 Minnesota Vikings through six games.
654
Everyone expected big things from Justin Jefferson entering this season. He had the most prolific first two seasons of any receiver in NFL history. His new head coach was the offensive coordinator for Cooper Kupp and the Rams’ offense in the past two seasons. While the rest of the Vikings’ offense has struggled to find its way, Jefferson has been spectacular. He has caught 46 passes for 654 yards, the third-most in the league.
Remember that Jefferson only caught a combined nine passes for 62 yards in Weeks 2 and 3. Outside of that, Jefferson has put up totals of 184, 147, 154, and 107 receiving yards in the other four games this season. He even added a three-yard touchdown run in Week 4 against the New Orleans Saints. The Vikings will likely have to continue to find unique ways of getting him the ball because defenses will be focused on him all season long
88.7
Despite Jefferson’s hot start to the season, Kirk Cousins hasn’t thrown for 300 yards passing yet. Last year, he had three such games through six weeks. That’s ironic, given that his previous head coach, Mike Zimmer, wanted a run-first offense. Kirk has also tossed five interceptions, a mark he didn’t hit until Week 14 last season. Combine that with nine touchdown passes, and his passer rating is 88.7. That’s his lowest number since taking over as a full-time starter in 2015. It’s also well below his 98.1 career mark.
The offense is still a work in progress, and Cousins has made it known that he is still trying to adjust to O’Connell’s scheme. Reads are different in this offense, so as much as Kirk has to learn the new scheme, he also has to unlearn old habits. It hasn’t been the smoothest transition, but Cousins still has some untapped potential in this new offense. That isn’t all on him, though, which leads us to our next number.
119
Only one player on the team is averaging over 10 yards per reception on offense. (Jalen Nailor’s lone reception was a 13-yard reception on a fake punt in Week 4). Jefferson is averaging a healthy 14.2 yards per reception, but the rest of the team is lagging behind. Adam Thielen is averaging only 9.8 yards per catch. And K.J. Osborn, who people expected to build on an impressive 2021 season, is only averaging 9.3 yards per catch.
What’s more troubling is how these yards are — or aren’t — coming for the other wideouts. Jefferson actually has a shorter average depth of target (ADOT) so far than Thielen and Osborn. The stud receiver’s ADOT is 7.8 yards. However, Thielen’s is 9.0 yards, and Osborn’s is 8.7. Along with Jalen Reagor, who has only caught three passes on the season, Minnesota’s other wide receivers have accumulated only 119 yards after the catch (YAC). Jefferson has 300.
1
The Vikings have only had one starter miss a game so far. Harrison Smith was held out of the Week 3 victory over the Detroit Lions as he recovered from a concussion. Their injured reserve list is short, too. They’ve only listed six players on IR, and two, running back Ty Chandler and tight end Ben Ellefson, are likely to come back mid-season.
While injuries can be the product of bad luck, it is no accident that the team has been as healthy as it is. Tyler Williams (executive director of player health and performance) and Uriah Myrie (head athletic trainer) have embraced sports science. As a result, they hit less in training camp, had a focused plan to tackle jet lag on the team’s trip to London, and had an intense week of hydration to prepare for last week’s game in Miami. The Vikings come out of their bye week with the same 22 starters as they did in Week 1.
24
We heard all off-season about last year’s late-game collapses. The Vikings lost winnable games to the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals to begin the season and finished the year 8-9. Eight of their nine losses were by one score. Could O’Connell turn this around in one season?
So far, the answer has been yes. The Vikings aren’t playing perfect football by any means, but they have played well when they’ve needed to. They are outscoring opponents 51-27 in the fourth quarter this year, a 24-point advantage. They haven’t been outscored once in the final period this season.
Minnesota didn’t play well against the Lions in Week 3, but a key third-down stop at the end helped the offense get the ball back, setting up a game-winning touchdown pass to Osborn. A week later, Joseph kicked a go-ahead field goal with 24 seconds left against the Saints. New Orleans kicker Will Lutz followed that up with a missed field goal of their own that would have sent the game to overtime.
The Vikings beat the Bears with a seven-minute go-ahead touchdown drive before Cam Dantzler stripped wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette to seal the game. And against the Dolphins, Harrison Smith forced a fumble on a potential go-ahead drive for Miami. Two plays later, Dalvin Cook scored on a 53-yard touchdown run to cement the victory.
It hasn’t always been pretty. But, outside of a handful of seasons, when has it been for the Vikings? The bye week came at a good time, and the Vikings are sitting in as good of a spot as one could ask for in a weak NFC.
