ESPN Identifies “Achilles Heel” for Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings don’t have too many egregious weaknesses in 2024, a factoid evident when one glances at the team’s win-loss record: 13-2.
ESPN Identifies “Achilles Heel” for Vikings
The purple team can clinch homefield advantage throughout the postseason in the next 10 days if it chips off the Green Bay Packers at home and the Detroit Lions on the road.
And according to ESPN, an outfit that sized up each Super Bowl-contending team’s “Achilles Heel” this week, Minnesota has one glaring problem — taking sacks.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell basically claimed that quarterback Sam Darnold holds the football too long, a sentiment many Vikings fans would agree with because, well, Darnold does hold the ball too excessively at times.
“The difference is what’s missing from passer rating and yards per attempt: sacks. Darnold has been very good, but in addition to the occasional rash of interceptions, the one issue he has battled is taking too many sacks. His 8.5% sack rate ranks 30th. The only regulars who have run higher sack rates than Darnold are Jalen Hurts and Caleb Williams,” Barnwell explained after Week 16 when the Vikings toppled the Seattle Seahawks on the road.
Darnold is on track to tabulate about 4,300 passing yards and 38 touchdowns by season’s end in 2025.
“The Vikings lost star left tackle Christian Darrisaw to a midseason knee injury, which didn’t help matters, but Darnold actually ran a higher sack rate with Darrisaw on the field (9.2%) than he has with Darrisaw’s replacements (8.0%),” Barnwell continued.
“Those sacks aren’t impossible to overcome, but they’re essentially dream-enders for Minnesota’s offense. When Darnold doesn’t take a sack during a drive, the Vikings score touchdowns 31% of the time. Add even one sack to the mix and Minnesota’s touchdown rate drops below 5%. The Vikings have scored only two touchdowns across 42 possessions with at least one Darnold sack, and they each had weird circumstances.”
Darnold often hangs onto the rock when other upper-echelon passers take an incompletion and move on. During his Seattle Seahawks tenure, Russell Wilson was notorious for a similar behavior.
Barnwell concluded, “Darnold could improve as he gets regular reps in a good offense for the first time in his career, and indeed, his sack rate has gotten slightly better as the season has progressed. I’d also suggest his style of play inherently leans into trying to create out of structure and extending sequences at times, with both good and bad results.”
The good news is that the Vikings’ main weakness can be corrected by head coach Kevin O’Connell or at least gradually improved. Some NFL teams have weaknesses like “The defense stinks,” but Minnesota’s is fixable.
The Vikings next host the Packers at home on Sunday and are expected to lose by a point, according to sportsbooks.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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