Loss of Danielle Hunter Is the Vikings Killshot
Danielle Hunter was injured versus the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, spelling trouble afoot for multiple aspects of Minnesota Vikings football. Even with a healthy Hunter, it was unclear if the 2021 Vikings were actually any good.
Now, the team gets a redux of 2020.
Last year, the Vikings finished 7-9 as Hunter recovered from a neck injury. At 3-4 for wins and losses through eight weeks of the 2021 regular season, Minnesota will now determine if it can perform any better than last year sans the services of Hunter.
The task is daunting. Hunter’s injury affects about four facets of Vikings football in varying degrees of importance.
Foremost, after Hunter’s injury on Halloween, the Vikings pass rush substantially subsided. The same thing occurred in 2020 as Minnesota could forge no consistent pass rush whatsoever during the pandemic season. Several factors led to the Vikings loss last weekend – poor offensive playcalling, failure to capitalize on turnovers, blown defense down the stretch – but Hunter leaving the game helped contribute to a home loss. It certainly isn’t his fault by any means, yet no Hunter reduced the Vikings chances of victory over the Cooper Rush-led Cowboys.
That’s the mini-implication for life without Hunter. The next three are ascendingly broader in scope.
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Losing Hunter for the next 10 games is probably the death blow to the 2021 edition of the Vikings. Hunter is [was] the straw that stirs the drink on defense. He generates the pass rush up front while the other three linemen benefit from his sponsored chaos. Minus Hunter, the Vikings defensive line is decent on paper – but probably won’t effectuate a reliable pass rush. General Manager Rick Spielman just traded his defensive line depth (Stephen Weatherly) away to the Denver Broncos a week and a half ago, so Minnesota is left with Everson Griffen, Dalvin Tomlinson, Michael Pierce, D.J. Wonnum, Sheldon Richardson, Armon Watts, and Patrick Jones II. That combination is designed to stop the run – even though the Vikings aren’t really doing that either in 2021. In all likelihood, the Vikings 2021 pass rush – which currently tops the NFL in sacks per game – will nosedive. And a Zimmer defense starts in the trenches, trickling down to the secondary. Too, the Vikings offense is sputtering, and that means a porous defense will equal losses.
Not only are the 3-4, Hunterless Vikings likely kaput for 2021, the pectoral tear of Hunter will probably be the fatal blow to Mike Zimmer’s coaching career in Minnesota. In 2020, Zimmer was afforded “excuses” by Vikings faithful because so many players on defense missed time due to injury. That courtesy will not be extended again. Entering 2021, Zimmer needed a winning season to inspire confidence and hope for 2022 and beyond. With Hunter lost for the rest of the way, the Vikings will lose more games – and that does not bode well for Zimmer. Hunter’s injury and subsequent loss of games this November and December can be considered the smoking gun for Zimmer’s eventual termination.
Finally, the injury creates mystery on Hunter remaining a Viking. Indeed, any reasonable football team would want the services of Hunter. However, if the Vikings jump into full rebuild mode, Hunter might not be in the long-term plans. He gambled on himself contractually this season. Through six games, Hunter was marvelous. Now, though, he’s hurt, and the Vikings must extend him or let him walk this spring. Should the Vikings hire a win-now coach after Zimmer, this will become a moot point, and Hunter will return. Yet, if ownership opts for a full reset, Hunter’s final game might’ve happened on Halloween – if that can be believed.
The injury to Hunter changed everything about the 2021 season and beyond. The Cowboys game was lost, the 2021 season forecast looks murky without Hunter, Zimmer needed a profitable season and probably won’t get it now, and Hunter’s contract status is now more mysterious than ever.
Everything about the Vikings changed when the news on the severity of his injury hit the wire.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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