We asked Mike Rowe from “Dirty Jobs” to join us in the painstaking task of looking back at every Vikings rushing play this season, but even he thought it was too disgusting.
So we did the deed all by ourselves and after trawling through a bevy of miserable stats we’ve concluded what you already knew – the Vikings are the worst team in the NFL at running the ball.
And it’s worse than you can imagine.
Excluding quarterback scrambles and kneel-downs, we took 186 designed Vikings running plays and found that 70 percent of them resulted in 3 yards or less and 53 percent gained 2 yards or less. Those stats are on par with their NFL low 2.7 yards per carry average.
- 29 have gone for negative yards
- 16 have gone for 0 yards
- 25 have gone for 1 yard
- 29 have gone for 2 yards
- 22 have gone for 3 yards
- 15 have gone for 4 yards
- 43 have gone for 5+ yards
- 5 have gone for 10+ yards
- 2 have gone for 20+ yards
It’s been 99 carries (designed running plays) since the Vikings had a run of at least 10 yards.
The Pioneer Press pointed out last week that Minnesota is in danger of finishing with the worst yards per carry average since the 1946 Lions averaged 1.7 yards per rush.
Based on our math, 15.6 percent of the Vikings’ designed rushing plays have resulted in negative yards. That’s one out of every six or seven carries resulting in a loss.
Miami’s Jay Ajayi has more yards (535) than the Vikings (505) and he’s done it in 100 fewer carries.
Minnesota’s leading rusher, Jerick McKinnon with 217 yards, is ranked 41st in league. He has just 8 more yards than Colts quarterback Andrew Luck and two quarterbacks – Tennessee’s Marcus Mariota and Buffalo’s Tyrod Taylor – are ahead of him.
Here’s the 186-carry breakdown in chronological order – it’s hard to stomach.
- Peterson for 1
- Peterson for 2
- Peterson for 7
- Peterson for 1
- Peterson for 9
- Peterson for 2
- Peterson for -2
- McKinnon for 6
- Peterson for 2
- McKinnon for 2
- Peterson for 2
- Peterson for -2
- Peterson for 2
- Peterson for 3
- Patterson for 8
- Adrian Peterson for -1
- Peterson for -5
- Peterson for 3
- Peterson for 4
- Peterson for 1
- Peterson for 4
- Asiata for 2
- Asiata for 6
- Asiata for 6
- Asiata for -1
- Diggs for for -1
- Peterson for 2
- Peterson for 0
- Peterson for -1
- Peterson for 0
- Peterson for -4
- Peterson for 4
- Peterson for 5
- Peterson for 4
- Peterson for 2
- Peterson for -2
- Peterson for 4
- Peterson for 5
- McKinnon for 2
- Patterson for -2
- McKinnon for 0
- Asiata for 12
- Asiata for -1
- Asiata for 3
- Asiata for 1
- Asiata for -2
- Asiata for 1
- Asiata for 3
- Asiata for 0
- McKinnon for 4
- McKinnon for 3
- McKinnon for 14
- Asiata for 0
- McKinnon for 3
- McKinnon for 4
- McKinnon for 9
- Asiata for 8
- McKinnon for 4
- McKinnon for -1
- McKinnon for 3
- McKinnon for 0
- McKinnon for 2
- McKinnon for -1
- McKinnon for -2
- McKinnon for 7
- McKinnon for -4
- Asiata for 1
- Asiata for 3
- McKinnon for 0
- Line for 2
- McKinnon for 2
- Asiata for 1
- McKinnon for 25
- Line for 2
- Patterson for 2
- McKinnon for 10
- McKinnon for 7
- Asiata for 4
- McKinnon for 3
- McKinnon for -1
- McKinnon for 10
- Asiata for -1
- Diggs for -1
- McKinnon for -1
- McKinnon for 3
- McKinnon for 2
- McKinnon for 4
- McKinnon for 0
- Asiata for 0
- Asiata for 1
- McKinnon for 3
- Asiata for 1
- McKinnon for 3
- McKinnon for 3
- McKinnon for 2
- McKinnon for 5
- McKinnon for 3
- Line for 2
- McKinnon for -1
- McKinnon for 8
- McKinnon for 8
- McKinnon for -2
- Asiata for -1
- McKinnon for 5
- McKinnon for 4
- McKinnon for 8
- McKinnon for 1
- Asiata for 1 (touchdown)
- McKinnon for 1
- Patterson for 7
- McKinnon for -3
- Asiata for 2
- Asiata for 2
- McKinnon for 3
- McKinnon for -6
- McKinnon for 2
- Asiata for 6
- McKinnon for -1
- McKinnon for 1
- Asiata for 6
- McKinnon for 0
- McKinnon for 1
- McKinnon for 2
- McKinnon for 2
- Asiata for 5
- McKinnon for -1
- McKinnon for 3
- Asiata for 2
- Asiata for 6
- McKinnon for 0
- Asiata for 4
- Asiata for 7
- Asiata for 4
- Asiata for 8
- Asiata for 3
- Asiata for 3
- McKinnon for 1
- McKinnon for 1
- Asiata for 1
- McKinnon for 8
- McKinnon for 1
- Line for 2
- McKinnon for 9
- Asiata for 7
- Asiata for 5
- Asiata for 2
- Asiata for 1
- Asiata for 0
- Hillman for -6
- Asiata for 1
- McKinnon for 9
- McKinnon for 5
- McKinnon for 0
- Asiata for 3
- McKinnon for -4
- Asiata for 29
- McKinnon for 3
- McKinnon for 5
- McKinnon for 6
- Asiata for 3
- Line for 0
- Asiata for 0
- Asiata 1
- Asiata 2
- Asiata 5
- Hillman for 2
- Asiata for 7
- Asiata for 1
- Asiata for 1
- Hillman for 5
- Asiata for 4
- Asiata for 7
- Asiata for 1
- Asiata for 1
- Asiata for 0
- Hillman for 6
- Hillman for 2
- Asiata for 4
- Asiata for 3
- Asiata for 5
