Stunning Stat Emerges in Vikings Victory over the Packers in Week 4
So far, the 2024 season has been going well for the Minnesota Vikings.
Yes, they shouldn’t have allowed the Packers to scrape and claw back into the game — dropped punt, interception, fumble — but the record is still a pristine 4-0. Prior to the season, I felt optimistic projecting a 10-7 season; that optimism is now looking closer to pessimism. The wild thing, though, is that Minnesota isn’t just winning. Rather, they’re almost always leading from start to finish.
The Vikings Victories and The Stunning Stat
Credit where it’s due: CBS Sports dug up this factoid.
During the game broadcast, CBS shared the nugget that helps to clarify how dominant the opening four weeks have been: the Vikings have only been losing in a game for 3:26 all year. Write that in a different way to really drive it home. Minnesota has been trailing for three minutes and twenty-six seconds. All season.
Ironically, the time when Minnesota trailed occurred back in Week 1 against the largely hapless New York Giants.
C.J. Ham — who is so reliable — fumbled the football coming off of a short pass. The end result was New York recovering and already being in field goal range. Brian Flores’ defense did its thing, limiting Daniel Jones & Friends to force the three points. Graham Gano’s 23-yard field goal put New York up, if only for a short time.
On the next drive, Minnesota turned an Aaron Jones run into six points. A Will Reichard extra point pushed things up to a 7-3 lead and there was no looking back in Week 1.
The wild thing is that running through the San Francisco game in Week 2 and the Houston game in Week 3 leads to more of the same: the Vikings leading from basically start to finish. In fact, there was never a point in those games when Minnesota trailed.
The same outcome took place in Week 4. The Vikings jumped out to a monster lead, crushing the Packers by a score of 28-0. And then Jalen Nailor — filling in for the momentarily injured Brandon Powell — tried to do a bit too much; letting the ball go over his head and be downed inside the 5-yard line would have been far preferable to what actually took place.
Even still, the lead never went away. Minnesota had been either tied — each game, of course, starts at 0-0 — or has been in the lead. Wild stuff and a good find from CBS Sports.
Now, the glass-half-empty perspective. At some point, Minnesota needs to prove that they can come back. There’s simply no way that an entire season can pass and there will be no times when Kevin O’Connell’s crew needs to dig deep for a comeback victory. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.
The lingering question, then, is whether the Vikings will have the resolve to pull off the victory when the other side jumps out to a lead. Trailing in a game is very soon going to feel unfamiliar, if it doesn’t already.
Nevertheless, the overwhelming takeaway is simply that the Minnesota Vikings have been playing some excellent football. Yes, there have been issues — especially in the second half of the Green Bay game — but no one can complain about a 4-0 record and trailing for less than three minutes and thirty seconds across the opening four weeks.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.