MinnesotaSportsFan

6 Biggest Questions Facing the Minnesota Vikings During Their Bye Week

By Andrew Buller-Russ,

4 hours ago

After a perfect start, Minnesota Vikings fans have little to complain about. Even though the record is immaculate , Kevin O’Connell’s team isn’t flawless. This team still has a few questions that need to be addressed.

A bye week gives the coaching staff more time to correct any mistakes that surfaced over the past two near-collapses . But with 12 more games to play, what are some of the biggest questions facing the Vikings after the bye?

Sam Darnold was hyped as a potential MVP candidate through four weeks. Seeing as though he had mainly been known for being the butt of a bad joke during the six years of his career, seeing the narrative shift so quickly was a sight to see.

How sustainable is Sam Darnold’s hot start?

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1tIdfw_0w03ftcy00 — Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

However, Darnold struggled a bit against Robert Saleh’s elite defense, failing to throw a touchdown and finishing with more turnovers than touchdowns for the first time as a Viking. But even Patrick Mahomes has an off day every now and then. What should we make of Darnold’s hiccups against his old team?

The truth is, Darnold hadn’t been without flaws, the Vikings were just winning so much that his few errant passes would be forgotten by the time the victory champagne was popped. If we take a deeper look at the numbers, Darnold has been, largely average.

Sam Darnold stats: 63.5% comp. rate, 1,111 passing yards, 11 TD, 4 INT

Darnold’s 4.6% big-time throw percentage (measures passes with excellent ball location and timing, usually on passes farther downfield) ranks 11th among quarterbacks who have played at least 20% of their team’s snaps. He also has the 10th-highest turnover-worthy throw percentage at 4.1% of his attempts.

Several high-profile QBs rank worse than Sam, including Josh Allen (5.5%), Kirk Cousins (4.8%), and Jordan Love (4.7%). All of this is to say, Coach O’Connell is still doing a great job of putting Darnold in a position to succeed, but finding a way to avoid further turnovers will be crucial to the team’s second-half success.

The former first-round pick only has one game without an interception, and after losing a fumble in back-to-back games, our biggest concern with Darnold is finding a way to avoid turnovers.

Do the Vikings have enough RB depth?

Aaron Jones’ injury in Week 5 created some panic. The Vikings thought they were still in good hands with Ty Chandler. It quickly became evident, however, that he is not in the same stratosphere as Jones, from a talent standpoint.

The Vikings indicate the Pro Bowl running back’s hip injury isn’t as concerning as it seems, but he’s still week-to-week, which means he could miss the Week 7 matchup versus Detroit. Even if he returns, what if the 29-year-old’s injury lingers or even flares up later in the season?

Jones averages 5.9 yards per touch. Meanwhile, Chandler is at 3.9 this season. Myles Gaskin is even worse, at 2.5 yards per touch. Can the Vikings really trust a combination of Chandler and Gaskin to shoulder the load for a team poised to make a run at the postseason?

The Vikings don’t have a lot of draft picks to trade . But if they want to upgrade their backfield, before the Nov. 5 NFL trade deadline passes, options are limited. Maybe they even reach out and reunite with a familiar face, such as Ameer Abdullah from Las Vegas. He wouldn’t cost more than a sixth or seventh-round pick and is currently averaging 4.7 yards per touch.

How quickly will T.J. Hockenson get back up to full speed?

T.J. Hockenson’s return is near. The Vikings activated his 21-day practice window last Friday, which gives him up to three weeks before the team is required to either promote him to the active roster or shut him down for the rest of the season.

However, this is a player who’s coming off a torn ACL and MCL that occurred on December 24th, 2023. Many ACL tears take up to 12 months to fully recover, and while recent medical advancements have helped shrink that timeline for certain athletes, not every player’s body responds the same.

Hockenson is expected to be activated either for the Oct. 20 Lions game or the Oct. 24 Rams game . That means he’ll be running full speed less than 10 months after having surgery. In other words, it could take some time for Hockenson to look like the two-time Pro Bowl tight end Vikings fans have learned to love.

Can Dalton Risner help the Minnesota Vikings?

All offseason, Vikings fans were clamoring for more help along the offensive line. It never came. However, the team did finally re-sign Dalton Risner, late in the summer. When he was signed, the assumption was that the 29-year-old would resume his old starting role as the left guard. Yet, Blake Brandel has since established a stronghold on his starting job.

That means, if Risner is to get back into the starting lineup, it will have to either be due to injury, or by replacing Ed Ingram at right guard. The only issue is, the sixth-year pro has never taken a snap at right guard in his NFL life.

But at some point, the Vikings have to look themselves in the mirror and ask whether starting Ingram is the best move for the team. Right now, he’s grading as the 82nd-best guard in football or, to put it another way, the 16th-worst. He’s just not dependable as a pass protector, where he is the second-worst pass blocker among guards who have played five games. There’s no doubt that Risner could provide that same level of effort, if not better.

Is the Vikings’ top-rated defense legit?

Before Brian Flores took command as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, this unit allowed the 28th-most points per game under fan favorite Ed Donatell. His first year, Flores improved that mark to 13th. Now? The Vikings have allowed the fourth-fewest points in the NFL. Some are even saying the Vikings have the league’s best defense, and there are several other stats to support this theory.

Opponents have scored on just 21.7% of their drives against the Vikings, which is the best rate in the NFL. The Vikings have allowed just one rushing touchdown all season, likely a microcosm of being ahead for all but three minutes and 26 seconds of gameplay. So far, there aren’t any real glaring concerns with this defense.

They’re forcing the second-most turnovers and have recorded the most interceptions this season. If this group can continue creating turnovers while holding opponents to the sixth-fewest yards per pass attempt and the second-fewest rushing yards per play, there’s no reason why they won’t finish as a top-ten unit.

Is Will Reichard really this good?

Rookie kickers aren’t supposed to be this good. Usually, there are first-year jitters, whether it’s playing in front of an electric home crowd or on the road with 50,000 fans booing you. Yet, Will Reichard is not your average kicker.

He’s just one of three kickers who have played all five games and has yet to miss a field goal. But, when adding in extra points, Reichard is the only NFL kicker who has played five games and has yet to miss a single attempt.

It’s not like the Vikings are playing it safe with their rookie either. He’s made three kicks from 50 or more yards. If Reichard had missed his lone field goal attempt against the Packers, the Vikings wouldn’t be undefeated right now. While there’s no doubt he belongs in the NFL, the biggest question is how long can the 23-year-old maintain his nerves of steel?