No matter how you parse 4-1 and first-place in the NFC North, it remains 4-1 and first-place in the NFC NorthBecause Minnesota’s sports zeitgeist is a glass-half-empty thing, a decent chunk of Vikings Nation likely walked away from Sunday’s 29-22 victory over the Chicago Bears believing their team’s 4-1 start is something of a mirage.
The Vikings might have won three straight games, and sit alone at the top of the NFC North with a 3-0 record, but they’ve been living on the edge against teams already assumed to be their inferiors. While they fairly pounded Green Bay in their season opener, the Vikings needed fourth-quarter rallies against the Bears, Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints.
Certainly, the wary believe, this will all catch up to Minnesota’s snake-bitten NFL franchise.
Dalvin Cook begs to differ.
“We’re not living on the edge. We’re playing ball,” the Vikings tailback said. “Plays are made when they need to be made.”
Cook ran 18 times for 94 yards and a pair of touchdowns on Sunday, making, as he noted, plays when they needed to be made. On the Vikings’ game-winning, 17-play drive, Cook ran six times for 23 yards, including for one of the team’s six first downs.
But no matter how you parse 4-1 and first-place in the division, it remains 4-1 and first place in the division. As linebacker and team captain Eric Kendricks said after Sunday’s game at U.S. Bank Stadium, “We’ll take it.”
Vikings fans should, too.
“Are we where we want to be as far as how we’re playing?” veteran safety Harrison Smith said. “No, but we’re winning, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. We need to get better in some areas but we’re going to savor these wins; they’re hard to come by.”
Anyone who can, or would, read this remembers the previous two seasons, when Minnesota limped out of the gate and spent the rest of the season fighting itself as much as its opponents. After five games, we can unequivocally say that in their first season under head coach Kevin O’Connell, the Vikings are better than they were last year. Who cares if the team’s they’ve beaten are a combined 8-12? The Vikings lost to previously winless Detroit last Dec. 5.
Beating the teams you should beat is a prerequisite for good football teams, and if you’ve been paying attention to the first five weeks of the NFL season, you know most games are close. As Smith put it, “Stuff happens that you think shouldn’t happen.”
Should the Vikings have smoked Chicago on Sunday? Maybe. They were up 21-3 after two quarters yet trailed 22-21 with 9 minutes, 31 seconds remaining. Then they made plays when they needed them, capping a 17-play , 75-yard drive with a 1-yard sneak by Kirk Cousins, then scoring on a two-point conversion pass to Justin Jefferson.
When the Bears showed they weren’t going to lie down, cornerback Cameron Dantzler stole the ball from former Vikings receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette after a 15-yard reception — and had the presence of mind to slide inbounds so Minnesota could run out the clock by taking knees.
Even as the Bears crawled back into the game and took a lead, one got the sense that Chicago’s shortcomings would ultimately lead to a Bears loss. Not the Vikings’ shortcomings, the Bears’ shortcomings. This is how far the Vikings have come in a handful of games. This is progress.
Minnesota won’t run the table this season, but the Vikings have to be the hard favorite to win the NFC North. That’s a playoff berth and maybe a bye. It’s still out there for the Vikings to take.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say we’re where we want to be. It’s so early in the season,” Kendricks said. “But we’re doing good things. Being 4-1 in the league, it’s (freaking) hard, you know what I mean? Looking back at it, we’ve put a good body of work in.
“We’ve been in a lot of situations we can learn from, but no, we’re not where we want to be. We’ve got to get better; we know that.”
To be able to say this while sitting undefeated against NFC North foes is a luxury, but one the Vikings have paid for. They’ve built some equity here. That should buy, if not outright optimism, a little trust.
“If you can learn when you’re winning, it’s pretty awesome,” Smith said. “It doesn’t happen all the time. I think that kind of shows you how good we can be. We’re just scratching the surface.”
Go ahead, believe him.
https://www.twincities.com/2022/10/09/john-shipley-its-safe-for-vikings-fans-to-feel-good-about-their-team/
