How do you grade em @ 5/1, going into the bye?

[Guest]

Offense is scoring like 24+ a game minus the eagles game. Pretty hard to be down on that. 

[Guest]

Offense: B  Loved what I saw in Green Bay.  Moving JJ all around.  In the backfield, in motion, fake screens.  There have been flashes since, but the innovation in the offense has not been what I expected following game one.  Cousins has been good, not great.  Dalvin and run game generally inconsistent.  OL has been a huge improvement over recent past and the exciting thing is that it has room to improve with most of the line on an "up" trajectory and young.  TE position has been very disappointing.

Defense: C  Would be worse if not for penchant for takeaways.  Too much "base" defense and "shell" coverage.  You can sit a TE or WR down in the middle of the field in this coverage 5-10 yards downfield and get quick move-the-sticks completions all day.  They have not confused QBs that should be easy to confuse (Thompson, Fields) and makes it very easy on mediocre QBs to move the ball.  Front 3 has been largely unimpressive and pressures have been good in two games (GB, Miami) and lousy pretty much throughout the other 4 games.  Hopefully as players adapt to the scheme we see more creative play calls and better execution.

Special Teams: B+  Would be higher if (dirty little secret) we did not have the worst kicker in the league.  Two missed XPs already this year should have everyone in Vikingland frightened.  Wright has had some massive punts and has generally shown good touch but there have also been a few clunkers.  I'll take consistency here all day and Wright still has a ways to go there.  Grade is also bolstered by the blocked kick (Peterson), the successful fake punt and Metellus' great play to stuff Miami's fake punt last week.  Reagor has been generally good but his muff could have cost us a game.  Kick returns have been strangely bad -- bad decisions on when to take the return and poor blocking.  Nwangwu is a weapon but he and the return unit have fired blanks all season.

Coaching: B+  KOC and Daniels move this grade up, Donatell drags it down.  High marks for KOC on approach, game preparation, team culture and situational football.  Play calling has been very uneven.  I think Donatell's progression with the defense after the bye week will be the key to whether this is a strong playoff team or a team that struggles and ends up just inside or just outside of the cut line for the playoffs when the season is over.

[Guest]

Offense B+ - feels like they can score any time they touch the ball, but definitely struggling to put it all together, which I expect this to be an A+ by end of season.

Defense D - talent on the defense is a B, but our DC is awful, worst schemes I have ever seen from a Viking defense.

Special Teams C - Punter is an A, Joseph has been terrible and Kene has taken too many kicks out of the end zone and not gotten them back to at least the 25. 

Coaching C+ - KOC is an A, he has not been perfect in game managing, but has done a great job of creating a more energetic and cohesive culture and DC is an F.

[Guest]

@"purplefaithful" said:
And are the opportunity areas something that they can improve on this year? Or through FA/Draft in future years?

Offense:  B-
OL so improved, maddeningly inconsistent, JJ their north star, hoping for more in the future from ISJ/KJO

Defense: C
Bend dont break
Hopefully will improve with what they got as the year progresses

S.Team: B+
Some great coverages, heads-up play, Joseph is scary as is Wright (but for totally different reasons)

Coaching: A-
I find it hard not to go with an A at 5/1, even with concerns about Donatell

Hard to disagree with these "grades"...  I wouldn't change them much.  I'll add...

Offense - Feel like we're scoring enough points each week, but we've hit some rough patches in games...  Like a few too many for the talent we have.  I think for the offense to take that next evolution we need to see Thielen, KJ, and Irv continue to get mixed in more and more.  It'll make teams pay when the focus too much on stopping Jefferson...  which should make him more dangerous if teams need to play it straight up a few more times per game.  I still think Dalvin is being underutilized as well.

Defense - Couple weeks ago, I wouldn't have been this generous...  but they aren't letting teams score a ton of points.  Run defense has been much better the past couple weeks.  And I'll live with giving up passing yards like it's Halloween candy if we keep forcing turnovers at this rate.

Special Teams - Wright is a revelation...  From the field flipping punts to the ability to execute a long pass on a fake punt.  BOOM
I'm not down on Joseph as some.  He's missed 2 XPs and a couple 50 yard FGs that looked like he was trying to make it from 70.  It think he finds his groove, he's been money from 49 and under and made some pressure FGs already this season.

Returners...  Raegor is a weapon as a PR, not as good as my little Chinchilla (Marcus Sherels) but he's the most explosive PR we've had in awhile.  Kene...  Major step back from last year.  Too many returns short of the 25.  Not sure what his issue is this season.

Coaching - I'd give it an A, but even the most curmudgeonly Vikings fan can't seriously go any lower than a B+.  And that's only if you HATE Ed Dona-shell...  I mean Donatell (credit to AGR for that one lol).  The complete flip of being excellent at the end of halves (check notes... #1 in the NFL) and being clutch in the 4th quarter...  It all starts with Kevin O'Connell who should be Coach of the Year if the season ended today (not Daboll).

[Guest]

Guess I'll give some grades too, why not. 

Offense (B): They're on the right track but need to learn how to adapt a little better. Teams are coming to the conclusion that if they double JJ and load the box Thielen/KJ won't end up beating them. For the most part that has been the case. They need to start running KJ vertically out of the slot more. Another WR would be helpful to allow some more flexibility to hide Jefferson. The TE position hasn't been a plus but they really don't leverage it much anyways. 

Defense ©: The pass rush is more like a B+, but the play-calling and schematics hold them back. This is the epitome of a bend but don't break defense, its what cover 2/6 is at heart. Its great if you can generate negative plays, but that just isn't happening at a high rate. I would imagine they start to crank up the aggressiveness. 

Special Teams (A): Not only are they playing well in all phases, the creativity is top notch. Ryan Wright has been a gem who was identified purely by our new ST coordinator. 

In summary they are good enough to win in a phase and do enough in the other two to win most games. Crazy enough the best teams can win in multiple ways, which is really why they're 5-1.