The Vikings’ Ugliest Stat from the Week 18 Disaster in Detroit
Fans will be forgiven if they turned off the Week 18 game against the Detroit Lions before the clock hit 0:00. After all, the Vikings’ effort left them with next to no chance of victory before the game ended.
A lot went wrong for Kevin O’Connell’s team. Playing a team as strong as Detroit requires a near flawless effort to pull off the upset, so having so many miscues ultimately led to a predictable outcome: getting beat decisively 31-9. And while there would be no shortage of options for ugly stats, there’s one reality that stands out among the rest: the collective output from the skill players.
The Vikings’ Ugliest Stat from Week 18
The kicking left a little something to be desired. Missing yet another field goal and then putting a kickoff out of bounds were unfortunate errors.
So, too, was the effort in the redzone not good enough. Minnesota didn’t score a single touchdown all day. There’s simply no way that a team on the Lions’ level is going to fall with just field goals (this isn’t the Jags in Week 10, folks). The 0-for-4 result in the redzone simply isn’t good enough.
Possessing the football for less than 24 minutes isn’t going to cut it. Neither is being 3/13 on 3rd down and then 0/3 on 4th down.
One might also think of the run defense, or the lack thereof. Jahmyr Gibbs feasted in Week 18, picking up four total touchdowns (3 on the ground and 1 in the air). His day finished with 23 carries, 139 yards rushing, 5 catches, and 31 receiving yards.
These poor statistics, though, pale in comparison to what the Vikings’ skill was able to do. Collectively, Minnesota’s top trio of pass catchers — Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson (all 1st-Round picks, I hasten to add) — combined for 23 targets, 6 receptions, and 63 yards.
Oh, and none of them scored a touchdown.
Check out the breakdown of the statistics.
| Player | Targets | Catches | Yards | Touchdowns |
| Jefferson, Justin | 9 | 3 | 54 | 0 |
| Hockenson, T.J. | 8 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
| Addison, Jordan | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Minnesota’s great advantage on a weekly basis is their superior skill. No team in the NFL can match what the Vikings can offer at receiver, tight end, and running back. Corralling all of this talent is no small feat — especially for a defense that’s without star players in Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, Carlton Davis, and several others — so Lions DC Aaron Glenn deserves a ton of credit.
Part of the reality of Week 18, though, is that the Vikings’ skill didn’t play well enough. Sam Darnold was a major reason why, routinely struggling to hit his man with passes that sailed too high. At no point in the game did he look totally comfortable (again, credit goes to Glenn for being a major reason why).
Step No. 1 for Minnesota involves correcting the in-house issues. Forget what the other team did to make life difficult. Begin with making the plays that are readily available, correcting the unforced errors. From there, work toward finding solutions for a blitzing defense that’s content to get a few penalties in exchange for really sticky, physical coverage.
If Minnesota can’t come up with solutions to these issues in the coming days, the Rams are very likely to walk away with a win in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.
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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.