Minnesota Vikings Must Improve Defense To Have Legitimate Super Bowl LVII Hopes

The lack of respect card is one that is overplayed with tremendous frequency in sports. Fans hear it all the time, as athletes and coaches regularly trot it out at their convenience. “Nobody believes in us but the players in this lockerroom,” and other expressions like it are designed to rally fans and create an us-against-the-world attitude.

More often than not, it is overplayed and overcooked more than your ex-wife’s Thanksgiving turkey. If a coach or a player wants to create an easy headline, it can be accomplished with the disrespect argument.

You don’t hear that emanating from the Minnesota Vikings locker room these days, as the 9-2 Vikings are one weekend away from clinching the NFC North at a ridiculously early point in the NFL schedule. If the Vikings beat the New York Jets Sunday while the Detroit Lions lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the division will officially belong to the Purple.

But that’s not really an issue, because if it doesn’t happen in Week 13, it will in Week 14 or 15. The Lions are plucky, but not that good, the Green Bay Packers are no longer a threat and the Chicago Bears have miles to go before they can be considered respectable.

The Vikings own the NFC North, and while that’s no small feat, that’s not what head coach Kevin O’Connell’s team is all about. This is a team that has the second-best record in the NFC and the goal is to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl and win it.

This is where the lack of respect comes in for the Vikings. As the experts and talking heads are discussing the teams that are the biggest threats to win it all this season, the Vikings are the team that is dismissed with alacrity.

The Vikings may have lost just two games this season, but both were serious butt-whippings at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. In addition to those two teams, the San Francisco 49ers are considered a bigger threat than the Vikings.

Are the pundits correct in their assessment that the Vikings simply are not strong enough to emerge through the NFC playoffs and represent the conference in Super Bowl LVII at Glendale, Arizona? A grudging yes. The biggest issue facing the Vikings is on the defensive side of the ball.

This is not a huge surprise, because the Vikings were simply awful in this area in both the 2020 and 2021 seasons. On the positive side of the ledger, the Vikings added pass rusher Za’Darius Smith in the offseason and veteran Patrick Peterson has performed better in 2022 than he did last year.

But those two contributions are not enough, as the Vikings are giving up 390.7 yards per game, ranking 31^st in the league and just one spot ahead of the Lions. When it comes to passing yards allowed per game, the Vikings are giving up 276.1, ranking dead last.

Somehow, the Vikings are doing somewhat better in points allowed which some experts will say is the most important defensive stat. The Vikings allowing 23.4 points per game, ranking 21^st in the league. Not exactly a good number, but far better than the yardage rankings.

The reason for the improvement is based on Minnesota’s success at taking the ball away from opponents. The Vikings have 18 takeaways, ranking 5^th in the league, and they are 3^rd in takeaway/turnover differential at plus-6. That number would be even higher if Kirk Cousins had not tossed 9 interceptions through the first 11 games. Cousins threw 7 interceptions in all of the 2021 season, so it’s reasonable to believe that the quarterback can limit his picks throughout the last 6 games of the season.

Can the defense improve down the stretch, to the point where it can compete with the Eagles, Cowboys and 49ers? That’s really the question at this point.

The next moves are up to defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, defensive end Danielle Hunter, Eric Kendricks and the beleaguered secondary. They are simply not good enough at this point.

The Vikings may very well play the disrespect card at some point in the coming weeks. If they do, it won’t be with legitimacy. They have to become far more assertive on defense before they have a real chance to find glory in Super bowl LVII.