ESPN Analyst Says Vikings Are “Pretenders” Despite 2-0 Start
Through two weeks of the NFL season, there have been a couple surprise teams to emerge from the shadows.
One of those teams, of course, is the Minnesota Vikings after they claimed a 23-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon. The victory means Minnesota is one of nine NFL squads still unscathed after two weeks.
Of course, some of these teams will eventually fall off the pace, and ESPN’s Ben Solak went through each of the nine 2-0 franchises to identify the “contenders” and “pretenders” of the group. According to Solak, the Vikings remain “pretenders.”
Are the Vikings Real Contenders or Pretenders?
“I wish they were contenders. It would be so cool if they were contenders. But Sam Darnold falls below the bar of quarterback play necessary to be a true contender,” Solak wrote to begin his argument.
The play of Darnold has been absolutely superb through two weeks. The new Vikings QB has completed 72% of his passes for 476 yards and four TDs. He is one of just four quarterbacks to throw at least four touchdowns this season.
That being said, these statistical rankings may be a bit dubious at this point in the year. If Darnold continued this pace through the entire year, he would finish the season with 4076 passing yards and 34 TDs. His previous career highs in those categories are 3024 passing yards and 19 passing TDs, both coming in 2019.
It would be a complete career rejuvenation for Darnold if he kept up this pace, but there is a lot of season left before we can be certain that it will happen.
“The only way I’d be willing to buy the Vikings is if I were certain that coach Kevin O’Connell is so good an offensive schemer that he can do what Sean McVay did for Jared Goff in 2018 and what Kyle Shanahan did for Jimmy Garoppolo in 2019. And it’s harder to do it now than it was then. I’m just not there yet,” Solak concluded.
It’s a fair argument. We simply need to see more from this Vikings team, and Darnold in particular, to know if they can truly compete in the NFC.
There is an argument in O’Connell’s favor here, though. Since Kirk Cousins suffered his Achilles tear last season, the Vikings have played 11 games with Jaren Hall, Josh Dobbs, Nick Mullens, and Darnold as starting quarterbacks. In those 11 games, the Vikings have essentially played .500 football with a 5-6 record. Not too shabby with QBs who have been career backup-level players in the NFL.
For now, though, the ride has been very exciting with Darnold at the helm. Minnesota is playing exquisite football all-around, and fans should be very excited about what the team has accomplished so far in September.
Luckily, the Vikings have another massive opportunity in front of them this weekend to prove that they are legitimate contenders in the NFL this year with the Houston Texans coming to town in Week 3. The 2-0 Texans are led by an emerging star in C.J. Stroud along with a few former household Vikings names in Stefon Diggs and Danielle Hunter.
If the Vikings pull off a victory against Houston, there will be little reason to doubt that they can hang with just about any team in the NFL.
Editor’s Note: Statistics for this article were found via Pro Football Reference.
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