Vikings

Overlooked Areas the Vikings Need To Improve Upon In 2022

Photo Credit: Katie Stratman (USA TODAY Sports)

The Minnesota Vikings did not make the playoffs last season, and there is a lot of blame to go around. Many fans point to the defensive struggles or how the team forgot games were 60 minutes long to explain why they missed the postseason. But success is in the details, and there are a lot of other lesser-known but equally important factors from last season that contributed to their failed quest.

Penalties

The Vikings were not disciplined under disciplinarian Mike Zimmer last year. They were 29th in penalty yards, accumulating nearly double the yardage that the Super Bowl teams of the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals accrued. The Vikings couldn’t keep their hands off the opponents; no team had more combined offensive and defensive holding calls. It was a sharp contrast from 2020 when the team was one best in the league at avoiding laundry on the field.

Luckily, the Vikings’ new head man came from one of the least-penalized teams in the league last season. Kevin O’Connell knows how important it is to play disciplined football and how to mitigate some of those penalties. Holding calls can be reduced through play-calling alone because O’Connell should tailor it toward the strengths of Kirk Cousins and the offensive line. Several issues with personnel last year contributed to the lack of discipline. Still, the Vikings often put themselves in tough positions by asking those players to do more than they could. For comparison, the Rams had a league-best nine offensive holding calls last season. The Vikings had that many by Week 3.

Punt Returns Allowed

The Vikings allowed the fifth-most punt return yards and third-most punts returned in 2021. They returned 39 punts for a total of 339 yards. That means very few fair catches forced, very few punts downed, and very poor coverage. Although O’Connell wasn’t directly involved, the Rams allowed mind-boggling league-lows in nine punts returned for 60 total yards.

It may seem like nitpicking going after punting stats, but they can significantly contribute to losing games. Many fans were shocked when the team moved on from veteran Jordan Berry and cut several key special teamers. However, a closer look at the numbers might explain why. A few yards here or there doesn’t seem like a big deal. But, mentally, the difference between starting at their own 20 versus their own 30 can give opposing teams momentum.

The team has now put its hopes into Ryan Wright, the punter in a linebacker’s body out of Tulane. Wright kicked four punts in the preseason finale, three of which fell inside the Denver Broncos’ 10-yard line. Game on.

Offensive Drives

The Vikings had more three-and-outs last season than anyone other than the Houston Texans. Yes, those Houston Texans. That might come as a bit of surprise, considering Justin Jefferson broke records every week and Dalvin Cook was tied for third in yards per carry among qualified running backs. While the Vikings’ offense was usually the only bright spot throughout the season, they still had their fair share of struggles. We can place half the blame on execution and half on the play calling. The Vikings ended up in so many third-and-longs last season that it’s no wonder they didn’t convert more.

With O’Connell calling plays, the Vikings will likely be a lot less conservative this year. Last season, the Rams converted on 44% of third downs, eight points higher than Minnesota. While personnel is different, the Vikings should hopefully see a sharp uptick in conversion rate. And it’s typically a good thing anytime you can keep Jefferson on the field and the defense off of it.

It was easy to blame the failed end of halves or the sieve of a defense last season for the poor record. But there are still a lot of areas the Vikings need to fix to chase the division title and beyond. Under new guidance and with new priorities, maybe the team will clean up these details. There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?

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