Strange Bedfellow Defends 10-2 Vikings
Dustin Baker
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You wouldn’t think a 10-2 football team would need “defending” after 13 weeks of regular season football, but here we are.
The 10-2 team at hand is, of course, the 2022 Minnesota Vikings. The club isn’t elite in too many statistical metrics, except for closing out games in the 4th Quarter. For example, that 10-2 team travels to Detroit for a date with Lions on Sunday, and the 5-7 Lions are favored to win by 2.5 points. By implication of the betting line, oddsmakers believe the Lions are a better team than the Vikings.
And some aren’t having the Vikings slander, including unlikely sources like former Washington Commanders quarterback Robert Griffin III.
Not an eternal Vikings backer, Griffin tweeted his amazement about folks’ non-acknowledgment of the Vikings this week. The former teammate to current Vikings QB1 Kirk Cousins told NFL fans to “wake up” about Kevin O’Connell’s team and that “when adversity hits, [the Vikings] come together as a team and find ways to win.”
Here’s the full tweet.
Of all teams in the history of the NFL with 10+ wins through 12 games, the 2022 Vikings +10 point differential is the lowest.
Lowest Point Differential,
Among Teams w/10+ Wins thru 12 Games,
of a Single Season in NFL History,
1. 2022 Vikings = +10
2. 2019 Seahawks = +36
3. 2016 Raiders = +46
4. 2003 Patriots = +48
5. 2019 Saints = +50
Also noteworthy about Griffin’s rush to support the Vikings — he hasn’t been Kirk Cousins’ biggest fan in the past. After the 2021 NFL Draft, when the Vikings selected Kellen Mond to potentially succeed Cousins, Griffin poured cold water on Cousins’ outlook as Minnesota’s QB1.
“As you’ve seen, Cousins has been collecting checks there in Minnesota for a long time, taking them to 8-8, 9-7 seasons. If he has a bad start to the year like he did last year, I could see the fans and maybe the organization (Vikings) leaning toward Mond if he comes in and impresses,” Griffin incorrectly predicted to Bleacher Report.
At the time, Griffin also implied that Cousins was mad or flustered by Mond’s presence, “Yeah, I can tell you that No. 8 in Minnesota is not real happy right now, because Kellen Mond represents exactly what he doesn’t do well.”
But after Griffin’s failed Mond prophecy, the ex-NFLer and current ESPN analyst has evidently turned the corner on his opinion about the Vikings. After Minnesota downed the Jets last weekend, Griffin was in the whispering business, too.
The Vikings have a 7% probability of winning Super Bowl LVII, according to FiveThirtyEight.com.
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Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. 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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