with an 8-2 record inside a season where the franchise was supposed to win seven games — tops — according to sportsbooks.
The Vikings Have One Catastrophic Problem
Yet, per the team’s head coach, the turnovers on offense and special teams must stop. Kevin O’Connell calls such gaffes “catastrophic.”
told reporters this week about this team’s giveaways: “This is the National Football League. We gotta execute tossing the football […] It’s catastrophic. We’ve had two of ’em early on in games, and it can’t happen.”
The Vikings rank fifth-worst in the NFL per giveaways, handing the rock to the opposition too frequently and only outpaced in a race to the bottom by the Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, and Tennessee Titans — a who’s who of clubs that won’t reach the postseason.
 throws the ball against the New York Jets in the first half at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images.</p>
<p>” data-medium-file=”https://vikingsterritory.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=788,height=444,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/USATSI_24422156.jpg” data-large-file=”https://vikingsterritory.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1180,height=787,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/USATSI_24422156.jpg” src=”https://vikingsterritory.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=788,height=444,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/USATSI_24422156.jpg” alt ><figcaption> Kirby Lee-Imagn Images.<span></span></figcaption></figure>
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<p>O’Connell continued, “If we’re not going to be able to toss the football, we’ve got much bigger issues to work through […] If I’m worried about that, and maybe I should be with two of ’em on the ground, but yeah my expectation is, with the amount of time, you guys get to see a lot of that ball handling. You probably see 15-20 of those toss-type things a day in ball handling ’cause they’re in every week.”</p>
<p>And this isn’t the first time Minnesota has battled the turnover bug during the O’Connell era. The Vikings ranked 31st leaguewide in turnovers last year — also known as second to last — and was identified by most as the team’s undoing.</p>
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Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
