Here’s Where the Vikings Defense Ranks Heading into Week 6

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·October 11, 2023
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Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports.

Sep 11, 2022; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings linebacker D.J. Wonnum (98) and linebacker Danielle Hunter (99) react during the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports.

Week 5 of the NFL season is officially behind us.

The Minnesota Vikings fell to the Kansas City Chiefs this past weekend, dropping them to 1-4 on the season. Making matters worse, Justin Jefferson is headed to IR after suffering a hamstring injury in that game. Needless to say, the Vikings are in trouble.

Regardless, today we still will be breaking down where the Vikings defense ranks through Week 5 as a whole, and where individual players stand in terms of their statistics. Shout out to Pro-Football-Reference, Pro Football Focus, and nfeloapp.com for the numbers that went into this article.

NOTE: PFF Grades are sorted to include players with at least 50% of defensive snaps.

Team Defense

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Total Defense

Minnesota’s defense took a bit of a tumble down the rankings in Week 5, which is to be expected when playing against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. The stat that stands out the most, though, remains the number of plays that this group is being forced to play.

The Vikings offense did their defense absolutely no favors with a turnover on the very first play of the game and going three-and-out following a long touchdown drive by Kansas City to begin the second half. This group would be middle of the pack in a lot of these statistics if they didn’t have to be on the field so often.

Passing Defense

Run Defense

Remember after Week 2 when the Vikings run defense looked completely lost? Well, the adjustments from Brian Flores since that time have certainly worked. Despite having the ninth-most carries against them this season, Minnesota is a top-five group in terms of yards per carry allowed, and both EPA and PFF have them in the top half of the league.

That being said, opposing offenses have imposed their will in the passing game. The Vikings are giving up some high-efficiency passing, allowing the most completions in the league at a completion rate of 76.4%.

Individual Players

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OLB Danielle Hunter

OLB D.J. Wonnum

OLB Pat Jones

DL Harrison Phillips

DL Jonathan Bullard

DL Dean Lowry

LB Jordan Hicks

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

LB Ivan Pace

CB Byron Murphy

CB Akayleb Evans

S Harrison Smith

S Camryn Bynum

S Josh Metellus

NOTE: This article originally appeared on our sister-site, PurplePTSD.com..

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Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.

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