The Vikings Situational Defense Was Spectacular in Week 13
It may be a strange sentence after the Minnesota Vikings defense once again gave up over 360 yards of passing offense, and for the fourth consecutive week allowed over 400 yards of total offense, but the Vikings would not have won on Sunday without their defense.
As seems to be the theme of the 2022 Minnesota Vikings, they constantly put themselves in difficult situations, but over and over again, the Vikings situational defense was absolutely spectacular against the New York Jets.
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Red Zone Defense
Greg Zuerlein kicked five field goals against Minnesota on Sunday, including the third 60-yarder made by a Vikings opponent this season. Outside of that 60-yarder at the end of the first half, the other four attempts came as a result of the Vikings defense tightening up in the red zone.
Throughout the afternoon, the Jets made it into the Vikings red zone a whopping six times. They managed just 19 points on these six drives, an average of 3.17 points per drive. They also scored just one touchdown on these six drives, a TD percentage of just 16.7%. The San Francisco 49ers rank 16th in the NFL in terms of red zone TD percentage, scoring touchdowns on 53.66% of their red zone drives.
Simply put, the Vikings defense was elite once the Jets got into the red zone. In fact, it almost seemed at times like they were letting the Jets get into the red zone as quickly as possible in order to stop them faster. This likely wasn’t actually the case, but it’s a funny thought process nonetheless.
This is an area that the Vikings actually have struggled in this season, ranking 20th in the league this year. They allow TDs on 56.76% of opponent red zone drives. Most of these struggles come on the road, though, as the Minnesota allows TDs on just 47.83% of opponent red zone drives at home compared to 71.43% on the road.
Third Downs
In the same vein, Minnesota consistently ended the Jets’ drives whenever third down came up. The New York Jets converted just 3 of their 16 third down attempts. They also went for it on fourth down five times and converted just twice. All in all, if Minnesota’s defense stopped the Jets offense on third down, they got off the field 11 of 16 times.
On the other side, the Vikings offense converted 9 of their 18 third downs and also had a fourth down conversion along the way. If a team converts on late downs twice as often as their opponents, there are very few times that they will lose that game.
Overall, Minnesota’s defense may be one of the more inconsistent groups in the league, especially as they continue to miss starters in the secondary. However, fans of the Vikings should find comfort in the fact that this group continues to be one of the more clutch units in the NFL. We’ll see if this success can translate once the Vikings get to the playoffs later this season.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. He also earned minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his opinions, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.
