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There’s an old canard in sports: “You are what your record says you are.”
It’s frequently proven wrong, and it may have never been proven more wrong than it has been by the 2022 Minnesota Vikings. Coming into their Saturday game against the Indianapolis Colts, the Vikings had a 10-3 record with a minus-1 point differential. They had just set a franchise record (the team has been in existence since 1961) by allowing more than 400 yards in five straight games, and head coach Kevin O’Connell had raised legitimate questions about the defense run by Ed Donatell.
Things did not start out well against the Colts’ offense — which, by Football Outsiders’ metrics, is the worst in the league.
The Vikings, who just set a franchise record with five straight games in which they've allowed more than 400 yards, have allowed 110 yards in the first quarter of this game against the NFL's worst offense by DVOA.
Is that bad?
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) December 17, 2022
The Colts had a 17-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, and to be fair to Minnesota’s defense, it wasn’t all about that.
The #Colts are up 17-0 against the #Vikings at the end of the 1st, their largest lead of the season.
Minnesota has 10 passing yards, 42 rushing yards, 1 blocked punt, 1 fumble, and 1 failed 4th down conversion.
— NFL Stats (@NFL_Stats) December 17, 2022
Running back Dalvin Cook’s fumble didn’t help.
🎥 WOW ! @ZiggySmalls_ force un fumble de Dalvin Cook, et @rodgers_isaiah récupère pour les Colts ! #ForTheShoe
💻 @beinsports_FR 5 #NFLextra
📲 NFL GamePass pic.twitter.com/aViaG1bF3e— NFL France (@NFLFrance) December 17, 2022
Nor did the Vikings’ special teams miscues.
BLOCKED PUNT @COLTS TOUCHDOWN.
📺: #INDvsMIN on @NFLNetwork
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/NLM9jAlP4R pic.twitter.com/V3NVffZxSx— NFL (@NFL) December 17, 2022
The #Vikings, already down 20-0 to the #Colts, go for a fake punt on 4th and 1 and fail.
Why not just try a normal pass to Justin Jefferson or a QB sneak?pic.twitter.com/JDR1HA4e7c
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 17, 2022
Nor did the offensive line issues. .
Ed Ingram stepped on Kirk Cousins' foot again. pic.twitter.com/oEIsdK33gH
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) December 17, 2022
“We get off to a good start on that offensive drive to respond to some really bad football to start the game, and then, we put the ball on the ground offensively,” O’Connell told Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network at the end of that first quarter. Turnovers and bad plays on special teams, and defensively, we’ve just got to find a way to tighten up on coverage — to be a little bot more aggressive in those situational downs.”
So far, none of it is working, and that’s been par for the course for a Vikings team that is currently the NFL’s two-seed, and doesn’t scare anybody.