We get it, 3-9-1 isn’t a great record with three games to go in the 2013 season.
While that fact couldn’t be more obvious, is the Vikings season really as bad as it looks?
Sunday Minnesota lost in the final minute for the fourth time this year. If a few plays go the other way and and the Purple win, let’s say two of those games, they’d be 5-7-1, just 1.5 games out of the division lead.
The running game has worked as well as ever, stacking up seventh in the league with Adrian Peterson sitting second in the NFL in rushing despite an injury that forced him to leave Sunday’s game early.
The quarterback situation, while not the prettiest signal-calling collage we’ve seen, has yielded nearly 3,000 yards, a figure that would put a player smack-dab in the middle of the NFL, at 16th in the league.
But like anything, there are two sides to this story, and with some of Minnesota’s season, it’s really just about how you word the series of events.
The Vikes lost seven of their first eight, defensively collapsed late in games too many times, and we’re still dizzy from a quarterback carousel that can’t seem to stop.
There’s no saving that first stat, but the latter two looked OK in the beginning of this article. Sorry to fool you.
While the three aforementioned negatives really tell you all you need to know about the Purple’s season, here’s three more stats that further help dissect a what-could’ve-been 2013.
TOP-40-LESS: The Purple have once again lacked a go-to receiving option, and Minnesota is currently without a pass-catcher in the top-40 of the league in receiving yards.
The closest the Vikings get is Jerome Simpson, who has 670 yards through the air and comes in 44th in the league in the category.
While Greg Jennings has gelled nicely with Matt Cassel at the helm (14 receptions in three Cassel starts), he averages just three catches per contest with Christian Ponder or Josh Freeman under center. We’re being a bit generous toward Freeman and Ponder on this one as well, as Jennings most productive day came against Chicago two weeks ago. The former Packer caught seven balls, a game which Ponder started but Cassel finished out, five of the completions coming from Cassel.
THE WORST EVER: The Vikings rank 31st in the league in both yards allowed and points allowed.
If you combine those two numbers, it would easily be the worst finish defensively for the franchise in the history of pro football in Minnesota.
Even if you don’t combine the rankings, its still not good, as Minnesota hasn’t finished outside the top-30 in points allowed in franchise history.
To be fair, there were only 28 teams in the league in 1984 when the Vikings finished last in the NFL in both points allowed and yards allowed, so you could easily call this the worst defensive year since that season, which many call the worst in franchise history.
LIVING IN THE PAST: The team did us a favor by posting this on Twitter today and making our last stat easy.
REMEMBER WHEN @JoeWebb_14 torched the Eagles?
Watch: http://t.co/92dpjajxEC pic.twitter.com/p0EVvfUwFD
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 10, 2013
Webb’s days as a viable option at quarterback, or a viable player in the league, appear to be distant blips in the rear-view mirror.
The man that started the Vikings playoff game against Green Bay just 11 months ago, Webb has been targeted just 11 times this year in the passing game as Minnesota attempts to convert him to wide receiver. He has caught just five of those balls for 33 yards and no touchdowns, despite his billing as a top athlete that could be dangerous in the redzone.
It hurts to have to be in the position Minnesota is in, but as Joe Nelson told us earlier, the consolation to a bad season is a high draft pick, and the Vikings could still get the highest one out there.
We hope that helps you sleep better tonight after reading those three spine-tingling truths.
