Some folks adopt NFL teams because they like the color of their uniforms or because the team drafted a favorite college player.
We adopt teams because they’re attractive statistically, kind of like prime numbers or pi, offering us opportunities to do constant mathematical mind tricks in our down time between visits to the nudie bar and happy-ending massage parlor.
So it is that we’ve more or less adopted the Vikings this year – a team that could become both the best running team and run-stopping team of the Super Bowl Era.
It’s a rare combination of capabilities that make for great story fodder. But they also allow us to prove that ability in the running game and against the running game are – if not unimportant – at least wholly overrated by a pigskin public brainwashed to believe that teams need to “establish the run” to be successful.
The Vikings offense rushed for a definitively mediocre 136 yards on 34 attempts (4.0 YPA) last night in their 20-13 win over Chicago. So here’s where the 2007 Vikings run offense stacks up among the very best of the Super Bowl Era. You'll notice, of course, that the five best rushing offenses of the Super Bowl Era boast two playoff appearances and not a single postseason victory between them.
TOP FIVE RUSHING OFFENSES (Super Bowl Era)
|
|
Team |
Record |
Att. |
Yards |
Avg. |
result |
|
1 |
1997 Lions |
9-7 |
447 |
2464 |
5.512 |
lost wildcard |
|
2 |
2006 Falcons |
7-9 |
537 |
2939 |
5.473 |
missed playoffs |
|
|
2007 Vikings |
8-6 |
442 |
2375 |
5.373 |
tbd |
|
3 |
2002 Vikings |
6-10 |
473 |
2507 |
5.300 |
missed playoffs |
|
4 |
1984 Rams |
10-6 |
541 |
2864 |
5.294 |
lost wildcard |
|
5 |
1990 Lions |
6-10 |
366 |
1927 |
5.265 |
missed playoffs |
***
The Vikings defense, meanwhile, held the Bears to a definitively pathetic 32 yards rushing on 17 attempts (1.9 YPA), forcing Chicago quarterback Kyle Orton to beat them through the air which, of course, he could not. (Upholding a grand Chicago tradition dating all the way back to everyone who's played QB for the Bears since the glory days of Sid Luckman in the 1940s.)
So here’s where the 2007 Vikings run defense stacks up among the very best of the Super Bowl Era. You'll notice, of course, that the five best run defenses of the Super Bowl Era boast a single playoff team among them, the 2000 Ravens, who won the Super Bowl and were good at everything defensively, as evidenced by a Live Ball Era best 165 points allowed (10.3 PPG).
TOP FIVE RUSHING DEFENSES (Super Bowl Era)
|
|
Team |
Record |
Att. |
Yards |
Avg. |
result |
|
1 |
2000 Ravens |
12-4 |
361 |
970 |
2.687 |
won Super Bowl |
|
2 |
1998 Chargers |
5-11 |
422 |
1140 |
2.701 |
missed playoffs |
|
3 |
2006 Vikings |
6-10 |
348 |
985 |
2.830 |
missed playoffs |
|
4 |
1991 Eagles |
10-6 |
383 |
1136 |
2.966 |
missed playoffs |
|
|
2007 Vikings |
8-6 |
320 |
951 |
2.972 |
tbd |
|
5 |
2000 Chargers |
1-15 |
470 |
1422 |
3.026 |
missed playoffs |
***
Minnesota quarterback Tarvaris Jackson is being widely criticized for his 3-pick performance in last night's victory over Chicago. Certainly, it was nothing to write home about and Jackson (like every other QB in history) will have to avoid a repeat performance if the Vikings are to have any hope of doing damage in the playoffs.
But his three-pick performance hides what was otherwise a fairly effective day passing the ball. Jackson completed 18 of 29 passes for 249 yards, a very, very good average of 8.59 YPA. A passer who averages 8.59 YPA will win almost every game.
It might have been different had the Vikings been facing a legitimate NFL team. Of course, the Vikings weren't playing a legitimate NFL team (hard to believe we're calling last season's NFC Super Bowl representative illegitimate just 10 months later but, as a wise troll once said, "the truth hurts").
The Vikings were, instead, facing the 5-9 Bears. More importantly, they were facing a quarterback who would have had to play poorly to fail to outplay Jackson last night ... and succeeded at failure.
Orton, making his first start in two full years, looked the part of rusty offensive door hinge: he completed 22 of 38 passes for 184 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT, and a pathetic 4.84 YPA.
Jackson might have repeatedly turned over the ball. But at least, in between those implosions, he found a way to march the Vikings down the field.
Don't overlook his capabilities. Because it's Jackson, not rookie phenom Adrian Peterson and the rest of the history-making Minnesota ground game, who will be the key to postseason success for our adopted Vikings.
