As the Vikings offense tried to keep games close in the beginning of the year, the Minnesota defense was giving up too many points to stay competitive.
The Vikings gave up at least 28 points in the team’s first three games. It wasn’t until Minnesota played a then-winless Houston team that the Vikings defense stepped up. Even then, the group held the Texans to 23 points. That’s decent, but that’s not exactly reminiscent of the “Purple People Eaters.”
Fast forward to this week, where the Vikings defense held the Panthers to 13 points. If not for the Minnesota offense giving up 14 points on fumbles returned for touchdowns, the Vikings would have had a good game on both sides of the ball.
Vikings coach Mike Zimmer talked about the improved defensive play:
“We’re obviously doing some things different than we were earlier in the year,” Zimmer told reporters, via the Vikings. “We’re mixing things up and we’re changing some things. We’re trying to be smart about when we’re aggressive, when we’re not.”
Zimmer also credits the improvement to young players making progress:
“D.J. Wonnum is starting to get better and better,” Zimmer told reporters, via the Vikings. “I think he’s going to be a good player. The two corners, (Jeff) Gladney and (Cameron) Dantzler. And really, Chris Jones and (Kris) Boyd have come in and played pretty well.”
During the team’s three-game winning streak, the Minnesota defense held its opponent to under 23 points, which seems like the magic number for the Vikings offense to be able to win the game.
Whether it was the Cowboys or the Falcons, the Vikings’ losses this year were mostly defined by poor defensive play and Kirk Cousins committing costly turnovers.
It’s hard to say which version of the Vikings the fans will see in a given week. But if it’s the version of the defense that showed up against Carolina, then Minnesota will have a shot at winning the game.