Can The Vikings Keep Winning Games At Their Current Pace On Offense and Defense?

The Minnesota Vikings have to be the most interesting 5-0 team in recent memory. After a rocky offseason that saw the team fire its general manager after a trip to the Senior Bowl, draft a rookie class without a permanent replacement, and finally hire the permanent GM to steer the ship was one of the most unorthodox plans ever. In the background was the quarterback competition between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy. Murray won, and McCarthy is a New York Giant now. 

Winning is the best deodorant. It masks all. While Minnesota enjoys its bye week, one can't help but wonder if this five-game stretch is sustainable for the rest of the season. 

Let me make myself perfectly clear. The Vikings defense is for real and isn't going anywhere. You can expect a dip at times during the season, but this is still a top two defensive unit under Brian Flores. Right now, in just about any metric you can choose, the Vikings are number one.

The Vikings defense is tied for second in the NFL with 17 sacks and second in takeaways with ten. The 259.8 yards per game average is number one as is the 12.8 points per game average. The Vikings are number one with -0.23 EPA/play and against the pass with -0.27. Against the run, the Vikings defense sits at number seven with -0.16 EPA/rush.

On the complete flip side is the Vikings offense. Under Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz, the Vikings offense is second to last with a an overall offensive success rate of 36.3%. It gets worse. On first down, the Vikings are second to last with a success rate of 33.6% with Miami dead last at 29.5%.

Second down isn't any better as Minnesota is dead last at 31.4%. Now, third down is a massive improvement at 44%, but that is closer to average than above average. One noticeable difference for Murray is Minnesota's under center percentage. At 50.8%, I'm willing to bet that is the most Murray has played under center in the NFL. 

So, what is the solution? With the way the Vikings have played, any sort of defensive slide could lead to losses while any improvement on offense could make this team a serious threat in the NFC. There are ebbs and flows in every NFL season, but this cannot continue.

Putting that much pressure on the defense to be basically perfect is no way for any team to have success. Kevin O'Connell and this offense has to wake up, if they want to be a real threat to play in deep January.