The Vikings Are Owners of a Dubious NFL Mark
Dustin Baker
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While the team seems to be trending upward after a Week 10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, the Minnesota Vikings are owners of a dubious NFL mark.
Through 10 weeks, the Vikings are the most penalized team in the NFL.
The baffling 74.2 yards per game is deadly, particularly for a team that embraces one-score games weekly. So far in 2021, all but one Vikings game was decided by seven points or less. When penalties pile into the box score, the margin for error tightens.
The Vikings largest problem in this realm is offensive holding. In nine games, Minnesota has been flagged 23 times for offensive holding – and that’s generally ten yards a pop. That also mathematically means the Vikings are good for about 2.5 holding calls per week when they have the ball.
The closest-offending teams to the Vikings on par with the offensive holding struggles? The Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys. But those two squads have 18 offensive holding infractions, whereas Minnesota is setting the pace at 23 – a full five more flags than the next dubious suitor.
The Vikings offensive line is generally the culprit, chiefly guard Oli Udoh.
The Elon alumnus fired up six holding calls in the first half of 2021. He’ll probably need to substantially reduce that in Weeks 11 through 18 if Udoh plans to be the Vikings long-term starter beyond this experimental season for the young guard. In 2021, only Cowboys offensive lineman Connor Williams has more offensive holding infractions to his name.
Before the start of 2021, the Vikings were the NFL’s fourth-least penalized team per yardage under head coach Mike Zimmer. So, it could be tempting to throw hands up and declare the current follies as a longstanding Zimmer thing.
But that would be unequivocally false.
The problem is new. The optimistic take on that? If Minnesota was so disciplined for seven seasons between 2014 and 2020, well, in theory, Zimmer should be able to restore some order. Coaches don’t tend to fundamentally get bad in a metric all of a sudden — especially a core football thing like penalties.
Unfortunately, the Vikings opponent in Week 11, the Green Bay Packers, is the NFL’s least penalized team per flag count.
Indeed, the Vikings are home on Sunday, reducing the likelihood of an upside-down penalty differential. Yet, pitting the NFL’s most penalized team per yardage against the squad least penalized per penalty count – doesn’t feel like a good mix entering a pivotal game.
As always, penalties are correctable, so all Zimmer has to do is fix the glitch. It is not a talent matter, nor is it incapable of remedy. What’s more, coaches always hark on penalties, making it likely Zimmer is already banging the drum on the issue.
Lastly, on the Packers, Green Bay has been the beneficiary of 12 defensive pass interference penalties. On 12 occasions, Aaron Rodgers or Jordan Love flung the ball in the air, and the other team was called for pass interference.
No other team has benefited more than that from defensive pass interference through 10 weeks.
Ergo, the Vikings will have to effectuate a gameplan worthy of downing the Packers – while planning to minimize the penalties, too. This mentality is almost always the mindset, but it is amplified in Week 11.
Why? Because the Packers are indisputably getting the DPI calls this season while accruing their own penalties at an astoundingly low rate.
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).
Also Read: Vikings a Whisker Away from Playoff Seeding
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