NFL
By: Steve Rogers
The 2023 Minnesota Vikings Season started off innocently enough with a tough hard-fought battle at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The first drive ended with a punt the second with a Kirk Cousins fumble that was recovered by the Bucs. After the defense held the Bucs to a punt Cousins three plays later fumbled while being sacked again on back-to-back drives. That led to a Tampa Bay field goal. With the score tied and halftime approaching Cousins threw his first interception and third overall turnover of the game. Three turnovers and five punts are not a winning recipe in the NFL and the Vikings lost a close one 20-17. Thus began the trend of the year “Losing the close ones”. Last year the Vikings won 11 one-score games. This year the Vikings went 6-8 in one-score games. In games decided by a field goal or less, the Vikings went 2-4.
Vikings Self-Inflicted Wounds
The Vikings ended the year with the second-most turnovers in the NFL with 34. Behind only the Cleveland Browns who had 37. At the beginning of the year, the Vikings couldn’t hold onto the ball with six fumbles in the first three games. All of which resulted in losses and a total of 10 turnovers in the first four games. In fact, the Vikings went nine straight games with at least one turnover to start the year. The Vikings finished the year with 15 fumbles lost. That’s nearly one per game! If that wasn’t bad enough the Vikings threw 19 interceptions. Just over one per game. Yikes! The Viking’s turnover ratio in 2023 was NEGATIVE 12. If the Vikings weren’t turning the ball over they were punting it. The Vikings punted the ball away 60 times this year. Including nine times against the Las Vegas Raiders who punted eight times as well in that Vikings 3-0 win. What about the unforced errors The Vikings received 89 penalties for 670 yards.
Vikings Battle Wounds (injuries)
The Vikings endured and tried to overcome one of the most injury-riddled seasons in recent Minnesota memory and possibly in the NFL. In all the Viking’s injury reports might read longer than “War and Peace”!?! One of the most frequently used phrases in the NFL is “Next man up” and that phrase was on repeat at Vikings press conferences like a new Taylor Swift hit on the radio. 15 different players spent time on or had their seasons ended due to injury and ended up on the Injured Reserve. Sure all NFL teams deal with injuries it’s not just that guy’s got hurt it’s the timing too.
For instance, backup quarterback Nick Mullens hurts his back going into week five and is on IR three weeks later when starter Kirk Cousins goes down for the year with a torn Achilles. The next week RB Cam Akers would tear his Achilles. How bout we add another twist during that same three weeks the Vikings and NFL’s best wide receiver Justin Jefferson injured his hamstring and spent eight games on the sidelines. The offensive line was a revolving door of injuries up and down the line leading to constant change and a total lack of cohesiveness.
All-Pro tight end T.J. Hockenson tried to pick up the slack in Jefferson’s absence but even he got banged up but battled through a tough rib injury. To add injury to injuries Hockenson shortly after Jefferson’s return would end up on IR himself with a torn ACL and MCL in his knee. Marcus Davenport was brought in this offseason as a free-agent edge rusher who was supposed to take pressure off of Danielle Hunter by helping Hunter bring the pressure… He played in TWO games all year. D.J. Wannum was having a career year with eight sacks and seven tackles for loss in his place till you guessed it a torn quad sent him to the IR. In total, the Vikings listed IR 128 times OUT 26 and QUESTIONABLE 45.
What’s Next For The Vikings
The Vikings find themselves at a bit of a crossroads this off-season with several veteran contracts set to expire. Hard decisions are going to have to be made. Safety Harrison Smith has played all 12 years of his pro career as a Viking. Now at 34 is he still able to keep up with the younger players? Rumors are beginning to swirl about his potential retirement as soon as maybe this off-season. Number one I don’t think Smith wants to play anywhere but for the Vikings. Secondly, I don’t think he’s ready to retire just yet. I think Smith fully intends on playing out his current contract. Which would have him playing through 36 years old. Speaking of his contract he’s set to earn over $15 million in 2024 and just over $18 Million in 2025. Who’s walking away from over $30 Million over the next two years?
Money, money, money How much do the Vikings have? How much will they spend? Big names with big contract extensions due make this offseason rather difficult to figure out. All-Pro WR Justin Jefferson is in the final year of his rookie deal and is undoubtedly going to receive the richest contract ever signed by a wideout. Edge rusher Danielle Hunter played out this year on a one-year “Prove it” deal. Prove it he did Hunter went out and had the best year of his career. He played all 17 games Hunter had 16.5 sacks and 83 tackles and he led the league in TFL with 23. Hunter earned his fourth Pro Bowl. Hunter has been open and adamant he wants to play his whole career with the Vikings. He has earned every dollar of his next big bag hopefully it comes from the Vikings.
Because the value of the quarterback position is so high getting it right is paramount to the success of any franchise. The Vikings know this as much as anyone that’s why they’ve paid Kirk Cousins over 150 million dollars since 2017. Now they face possibly their biggest decision as Cousins’s contract is up again. GM Kwesi Adofo Mensah has already come out and said he “Fully intends” to resign Cousins. As long as it doesn’t financially handcuff the franchise from filling other holes like depth along the o line. Or perhaps another pass rusher to help Hunter? Also, the Vikings can’t over-extend on years committed to Cousins either. With the 11th pick in the upcoming draft and being “Loaded” at the QB position the Vikings need to NOT do what the Green Bay Packers did and blindside Rodgers with the drafting of Jordan Love. The Vikings need to sit down with Kirk and explain their plan to draft his eventual successor now and allow him to grow and learn under Cousins. Ideally, it’s probably a two or three-year deal with team options for the second and third years. One thing is for sure this is a pivotal off-season for this “Competitive rebuild” phase window for the Vikings.
