Vikings Injuries Looking Like Water Under the Bridge
I sat in the living room in silence when Blair Walsh missed that 28-yard field goal in January. The only Vikings fans I know vacated the room as it sailed wide left. The hopes of an upset over the two-time NFC champs were dashed, and the Vikings offseason was filled with anger, disappointment, and thoughts of what could have been. Seven months later, Minnesota seemed to have put the miss behind them, getting ready for a promising 2016 campaign from a young team that everybody had their eye on.
Then the news of Teddy Bridgewater’s injury came. By all reports it was a gruesome one, one reminiscent of Kevin Ware’s broken leg in the NCAA tournament in 2013. The diagnosis was “a complete tear to his ACL and other structural damage,” and the timetable was anywhere from one year to maybe even a year and a half. The Vikings traded a first round pick away for Sam Bradford in what looked like a desperate move to avoid mediocrity, only to start Shaun Hill in week one. A win against the Titans was a good sign for Minnesota, but it wasn’t much to cheer about. They had even less to cheer about when Adrian Peterson went down in week two with a torn meniscus. A season of hope looked to be crumbling again in Minnesota.
Now coming into week six, make no mistake about it. The Minnesota Vikings are the best team in the National Football League. They don’t need a franchise quarterback or an all-pro running back to win games for them. For the Vikings, it starts on the other side of the ball, an area in which they remain unmatched.
The world watched as the Broncos won the Super Bowl last year with a swarming defense that dictated the pace of the game. It was a warning that while the NFL is a passing league, good defense can always stop good offense. That appeared to be the thought process when Minnesota brought in Mike Zimmer in 2014. Zimmer was a defensive guru in Cincinnati, and Vikings general manager Rick Spielman thought he could bring that same expertise to a young Vikings defense. But neither Spielman nor Zimmer could have anticipated the level at which this defense has performed.
The Vikings finished off a tough win against the Packers in week two, sacking Aaron Rodgers five times, forcing four fumbles, recovering two, and picking off a pass to seal the win. They followed it up in week three with an even more impressive performance against the NFC champion Carolina Panthers, sacking Cam Newton a whopping eight times and picking him off three more times for a decisive 22-10 victory. This marked the second straight week where they had completely stymied an offense led by the past two league MVP’s, and it wouldn’t stop there. The defense held the Giants to only ten points, and the Texans to 13, cruising to the Vikings first 5-0 start since the brief Brett Favre era in 2009.
Tom Johnson (left), Danielle Hunter (middle), and Everson Griffen (right) celebrate a sack of Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler.
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
I know, the Vikings don’t have big name defensive superstars like J.J. Watt, Von Miller, or Josh Norman, but Spielman has done a fantastic job at bringing in players who fit the scheme in Minnesota and can contribute immediately. Since he was hired in 2012, Spielman has emphasized defense in the draft. It started out with Harrison Smith in 2012, who coming into the season was rated by Pro Football Focus as the number one safety in the league. It continued in 2013 with the selection of Xavier Rhodes, who after missing week two with an injury, came out and shut down three of the top receivers in the game. He held Kelvin Benjamin to no catches, held Odell Beckham Jr. to only 23 yards, and followed it up by holding Deandre Hopkins to a measly 56 yards, the bulk of which came in garbage time. Spielman then went with Anthony Barr in 2014 and Trae Waynes in 2015, guys who have been instrumental in creating turnovers. And even though he wasn’t drafted under Spielman, I would be remiss to give the Vikings defense so much praise without mentioning Everson Griffen, who has quietly become one of the league’s savviest pass rushers. He has great speed off the line of scrimmage, an outstanding repertoire of moves, and the sheer strength to bring down opposing quarterbacks and force fumbles.
Nobody would have expected the last unbeaten team in the NFL to trot out Sam Bradford, Jerrick McKinnon, and Stefan Diggs on to the field as their offensive weapons. However, Coach Zimmer has never been about glamour, and with the nastiness this team has played with week in and week out, glamour was never an option. Don’t be fooled by the assertion that this is a hot Vikings team that will come down to Earth. This team isn’t falling any time soon, and we very well might see the Super Bowl trophy in Minnesota for the first time come February.
