Ever since Tom Brady uttered those now infamous words in a press conference, they’ve plagued the league and it’s talking heads as a topic of discussion; the football currently being played across the league is “bad”. It’s also, mostly true in my opinion. The question is now, do the Vikings contribute to that so-called “bad” football?
First we need to decipher what “bad” football actually is. Is it just good defense, or is it just really bad offense? Sometimes it’s probably both, most of the time, everyone is kinda bad. When a majority of the league is tanking, rebuilding, or trying to make whatever they have work, you end up with a lot of “experimental” and questionable results. A lot of teams got hit with the injury bug and are trying to cope after having greater aspirations, others are finding the acquisitions they made over the summer to be horrifically backfiring in an unpredictable manner. The football that’s being played this year is rather subpar in comparison to previous years. The NFC, flat out, just isn’t as competitive as it used to be. The Eagles are currently the only real contenders as Minnesota is unconvincingly pushing as the 2nd seed with every other playoff spot filling out rather awkwardly. The AFC was thought to be competitive only for the teams that were expected to do damage falling apart before the season even started.
The sparsity in distribution of talent is really starting to hold the league back. It’s beginning to throw off the competition of the league in favor of loading teams up to the brim with stars like the Rams or the Eagles. Rather than teams construct their rosters with actual depth and scheme fits, they opt for trading draft picks for big names in hopes of just out-talenting the other team. Safe to say, it’s starting to pull the league downward. Now to answer the question, do the Vikings play “bad” football? The answer is, yeah probably.
Minnesota sits at a 6-1 record with most of those wins being decided within 1 score. They’re winning, but by close margins, often in the ugliest fashion possible. The win against the Bears came down to a lucky strip by Cameron Danztler. The win against Detroit came down to a clutch drive from Kirk Cousins and KJ Osborn. There are other wins we can discuss that play out in a similar manner, but Minnesota’s performances speak for themselves. It’s becoming an emotional chore to watch the scores be as close as they are with teams we should be blowing out or at least beating handily. The conservative play calling has consistently come back to bite the team, and the lack of consistency with offensive drives is starting to put unnecessary pressure on the defense to keep fixing the offense’s mistakes. Cousins has played well, but his performance in Philadelphia showed he isn’t going to be playing at any semblance of MVP level. The defense is still patchy, and the secondary is in dire need of improvement in talent, but it’s stopping itself from being the worst unit in the league, for now.
Minnesota is playing sketchy football as of now. They’re starting to get better week by week, but there’s still a lot of room to improve. The TJ Hockenson trade is sure to add a safety valve to Kirk’s arsenal along with a solid blocking option. At the very least, the team knows it has to be better. All we can ask for is better football come January as that’s when it’s gonna count the most.
