More Metrics Describe the Vikings as One of the Worst Teams of Week 15
Josh Frey
|
The Minnesota Vikings have officially proven that they are no longer quantifiable. Kirk Cousins just received one of his worst QBR scores of the season, and now, Football Outsiders has used their DVOA system to rank the Minnesota Vikings as one of the worst teams in all the NFL during Week 15.
Granted, much of this poor rating inevitably has to do with the utter collapse that occurred in the first half that allowed the Vikings to fall down 33-0 in the first place. It was a horrendous showing from the offense, defense, and special teams. Honestly, the defense was probably the best part of the first half showing.
Even still, it is comical to think about the fact that so many metrics consider a team that scored 39 points in the second half and overtime, allowed only 3 points over the same stretch, and completed the greatest comeback in NFL history to be one of the very worst teams of the week.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”1209515″ player=”26281″ title=”Reaction%20to%20the%20Greatest%20Comeback%20in%20NFL%20History” duration=”854″ description=”Dustin Baker goes through the broad talking points of the Vikings win in Week 15./usr/local/bin/yt-dlp/yt_dlp/jsinterp.py:344: FutureWarning: Possible nested set at position 18″ uploaddate=”2022-12-19″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/19439/snapshot/1209515_th_1671476578.jpg” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/19439/sd/1209515.mp4″ width=”16″ height=”9″]
In fact, the only team that ranks worse than the Vikings by this metric are the Baltimore Ravens, who scored just 3 points in their entire game against the Cleveland Browns. Even the Arizona Cardinals, who lost to the lowly Denver Broncos by a score of 24-15, apparently outperformed the Vikings this weekend.
Because both halves have to be taken into account when discussing the Vikings comeback victory, it makes sense for the analysts to rank them among the worst teams in the league last week on one condition: the team they ended up defeating also ranked among the worst in the league. After all, the Colts imploded just as poorly by the end of the game.
But nope. The Indianapolis Colts are nowhere to be found in the bottom-five of the metric. Additionally, the Minnesota Vikings are now slated as the 26th-best team in the NFL by DVOA at 11-3. This comes after ESPN gave Kirk Cousins a QBR of 32.9 for his 460-yard and 4-TD performance during that game.
There certainly is a place for analytics and metrics in the sports world. Oftentimes they provide terrific insight into performances from players and teams from very smart people. This time around, it feels like the algorithm got it wrong, though. Regardless of how you feel about analytics such as DVOA, one thing is certain, the 2022 Minnesota Vikings are one of the strangest teams in NFL history.
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.