Nov 6, 2022; Landover, Maryland, USA; Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell gestures against the Washington Commanders during the second half at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports.
It’s so-far-so-good for the Minnesota Vikings as they head into Week 3 with a 100% record.
In Week 3, they host the Houston Texans at US Bank Stadium, who also come into the game with a 2-0 record. If Minnesota will be the team that moves on still undefeated, five trends need to continue for the Vikings in Week 3
The Vikings’ success so far this season has largely been built on a dominant defense. The Vikings lead the league in sacks through two weeks with 11. This Sunday’s opponents are second with nine, while the Texans’ 34 team pressures led the league in Week 2. The Vikings were third with 23. These are two teams that like to go after the opposing quarterback and are successful doing it.
San Francisco came to town with a good defense last week and Minnesota’s unit was the one that impressed most. US Bank Stadium hosts two good defenses again this weekend, and the Vikings need to come out on top again. An old friend in Danielle Hunter leads his team into battle at the place he called home for nine years. It’s crucial that the Vikings’ defense is once again dominant and makes things happen to assist the offense, which will have a battle on its hands with the Texans’ defense.
Kevin O’Connell’s Vikings team is undefeated when they at least have parity in the turnover battle during the regular season. Alternatively, the Vikings are 3-14 when they lose the turnover battle. You would expect a team to have more chance of winning if turnovers go in their favor, but it’s almost deciding the game with this Vikings team. The Vikings haven’t been perfect this season, but there isn’t the fumble epidemic of last season, and the defense has so far done a much better job of taking the ball away.
The recipe for success for this team seems to be a simple one. Look after the ball on offense and take it away on defense.
The big red flag on Sam Darnold’s career has been the sheer number of interceptions he has thrown, along with not enough touchdown passes. Before this season, Darnold’s TD/INT ratio stood at 63/56 across six seasons. Simply put, that’s not good. In two games for the Vikings this season, Darnold has thrown four touchdown passes and two interceptions. If he continues at that rate across a 17-game season, Darnold would finish with 34 touchdowns – dwarfing his previous best of 19 – and 17 interceptions.
The hope is that Darnold doesn’t throw an interception every game and has some clean games along the way. If he can finish with a total around the 10 mark, it will have been a good season. If Darnold has a clean game on Sunday, there’s every chance the Vikings can win. If he can go 35/10 on the season, there’s every chance the Vikings will play playoff football in January.
In case anyone was unsure, O’Connell and Brian Flores are outstanding coaches. The Vikings are in good hands for the long term with O’Connell, who has an ever-growing reputation in just his third season as a head coach. Both he and Flores outcoached their counterparts in the first two games. This week, it’s DeMeco Ryans, another up-and-coming head coach who has started well in Houston and is into his second season.
Bobby Slowik is the offensive coordinator tasked with finding a solution to the Flores defense that left Brian Daboll and the Giants bamboozled and one of the league’s best offensive coaches, Kyle Shanahan, searching for answers. Sunday will be an intriguing battle that will start with the coaches.
The Vikings have never lost to the Texans. Since the Texans came into the league in 2002, there have been five regular season meetings between the two teams. Minnesota came out victorious in all five games. The closest the Texans came to winning was in the first-ever meeting in 2004, which went to overtime. The most recent meeting came in the 2020 season with touchdowns from Dalvin Cook (2), Alexander Mattison, and Adam Thielen, giving the Vikings a 32-23 win that saw both teams going into the game without a win after three games — the opposite of this weekend.
The most important aspect of this weekend to continue is that unbeaten run.