WATCH: The Vikings Little Movie about the Wild 2022 Season
Dustin Baker
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While the 2023 offseason is in full effect for the Minnesota Vikings, the team’s media department took a brief look back at the 2022 campaign on Wednesday.
The Vikings ended 2022 with a 13-4 record, the best in team history by a first-year head coach. Kevin O’Connell took over for Mike Zimmer after back-to-back losing seasons and immediately whisked the franchise back to the postseason for the first time since 2019.
WATCH: The Vikings Little Movie about the Wild 2022 Season
Along the way, Minnesota fired up an NFL-record 11-0 win-loss total in games decided by one score or less, showcased the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year in Justin Jefferson, and won the NFC North for the first time in five years.
Aside from losing at home to the New York Giants in the Wildcard Round of the postseason — a pretty egregious sin — O’Connell’s first year was successful. And the Vikings commemorated the season this week with a short video. Have a look.
The team’s highpoint occurred in a two-week span, Weeks 9 and 10. The Vikings downed the Washington Commanders in Landover, Maryland, via suspense thriller as kicker Greg Joseph finished off Washington with a 28-yard-field goal. Minnesota trailed 17-7 in that contest with about 14 minutes to go, turning on the gas when it mattered the most.
Of course, that was just a precursor to a win at Buffalo — an event heavily showcased in the video above — as the Vikings trotted into Highmark Stadium as seven-point underdogs versus the Bills, who were the NFL’s Super Bowl favorites until they lost versus the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC’s Divisional Round.
The Vikings somehow defeated Buffalo in perhaps the craziest game purple fans will ever encounter, stuffed to the gills with a mammoth comeback, eye-popping and game-saving catches, unforeseen 4th Down conversions, mind-boggling Buffalo blunders, and a defense that showed up with the game on the line. Justin Jefferson’s 4th and 18 reception — which will live in Vikings lore forever — was awarded NFL Moment of the Year by voters last week.
Regrettably, that win over the Bills was the team’s zenith in 2022 — even though O’Connell and the gang fired up the NFL’s largest comeback in history about five weeks later. Indeed, the Vikings trailed the terrible Indianapolis Colts 33-0 at halftime, failed to score on the first offensive drive of the 3rd Quarter, and then decided they wanted to win the game. Minnesota ultimately chipped off 39 points in the 2nd Half, thanks to four touchdown passes from Kirk Cousins. The Vikings won 39-36 and will own the title of the greatest comeback in NFL history for the foreseeable future.
Now, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the aforementioned O’Connell embark on an offseason quest to improve the roster and make another run in 2023. Adofo-Mensah is expected to target younger and faster defensive personnel, pairing new free agents and rookies with Brian Flores, who was hired about two weeks ago to replace 2022 defensive bossman Ed Donatell.
The Vikings have +4500 odds as of mid-February to win Super Bowl LVIII.
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 Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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