Murphy: Buying the bend-don't-break Vikings
Brian Murphy writes that the Vikings' resolve has guided them to 9-2
By Brian Murphy
These days you need an acid bath to cleanse the cooties and nagging doubts that cling to the surface of every victory.
Scrub a little harder and there is much more to admire than nitpick about the Vikings, who are stacking wins for another once-in-a-decade season for the ages. Staring into the abyss of a psychologically crushing loss Sunday in Chicago, the Vikings tapped a bottomless well of resolve that kept them from falling in and steeled themselves for the knife fight unfolding the NFC North.
Scar tissue is more valuable than style points if you haven’t figured that out yet. Minnesota is flawed to be sure, but not fatally flawed. With three straight and four of their final six games at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Vikings are poised to run the table at home and stay within arm’s reach of stratospheric Detroit, where they conclude this wondrously entertaining season Jan. 5.
Another road game, another head-scratching escape against an inferior opponent, more minutiae to gin up a circular debate about how good the Vikings really are and whether they deserve to be in the conversation among elite teams.
Their 30-27 antacid victory over the Bears emphatically says yes, not because of how they looked getting there but what they ultimately did to earn it. The Vikings are 9-2 because they have refused to cave when momentum shifts on a dime, randomness strikes like lightning and seemingly safe leads turn to ash.
It was a typical psychedelic Soldier Field game that threatened to swallow the Vikings whole when Chicago, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and a fortuitous bounce on an onside kick erased an 11-point deficit in the final 22 seconds to force overtime.
When the Bears won the coin toss, Williams was oozing confidence and poised for greatness with a signature victory that would halt a painful losing streak which has all but buried snakebitten Chicago in the standings.
However, the Vikings never wavered. On the contrary, overtime was their finest hour on both sides of the ball.
Jonathan Greenard swarmed Williams for a sack and a 12-yard loss, the Bears were flustered into a delay-of-game penalty and wilted in the face of a third-and-26 stop.
Go win yourself a game, Sam Darnold, before Soldier Field swallowed the Vikings whole.
All Darnold did on Minnesota’s OT possession was go 6 for 6 for 90 of his 330 yards, hitting T.J. Hockenson and Jordan Addison for crucial completions while overcoming a pair of penalties to position Parker Romo for his chip shot winning field goal.
“Football is a game where you’ve got to be able to respond,” said Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. “It’s never gonna be perfect. This group is a special group, and it’s a road win in the NFC North and I’m really proud of our team.”
Unnecessarily stressful, yes. That’ll happen when you cough up a two-score lead in the final two minutes, yielding a touchdown, 2-point conversion and becoming the NFL’s first team this season that failed to cover an onside kick.
Instead of bemoaning an epic collapse that wasn’t, fans should be celebrating the methodical win it was. Playing complimentary football may be a tired cliché, but it has become the bedrock of Minnesota’s 2024 success.
Darnold is confidently playing at such a high level that it seems high time for him to leave all that underachieving baggage behind as he continues redefining a career that was left for dead six months ago. That’s two straight games without an interception as Darnold continues to exploit defenses by patiently navigating the pocket to deliver beautiful strikes to open receivers who may or may not be the best wideout in the league.
Justin Jefferson doesn’t even have to catch a pass to be the Vikings’ most valuable player. The fear factor among defensive backs and coordinators is palpable. Jefferson had one catch for all of 7 yards in regulation but had a long touchdown reception negated by a penalty while drawing a pair of defensive flags that chewed up valuable yardage.
All that attention on Jefferson has allowed Hockenson to reintegrate after a serious knee injury. Meanwhile, Addison has been freed, paroled, rehabilitated and handed a billion-dollar wrongful incarceration verdict after cryptically inferring earlier this season he was being handcuffed.
So here we are in the stretch drive, with the Vikings riding a four-game winning streak which has been more valuable to their identity as resilient grinders than their national profile as afterthought contenders.
The gimmes are gone. The lineup of opposing quarterbacks gets more daunting, with Kyler Murray, Kirk Cousins and Geno Smith on the horizon along with rematches against Williams, Jordan Love and Jared Goff.
Injuries to linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. and left tackle Cam Robinson will challenge Minnesota’s depth and scheming. However fragile their roster and margin for error may appear the Vikings’ resolve cannot be questioned.
Just keep scrubbing.
>another once-in-a-decade season for the ages
Well I would say after 2022, twice in a decade though I think this team is much better than the 2022 team.