Pointing to Kirk Cousins’ fattening pockets and the fact that he’s not a top-10 quarterback in the NFL is the low-hanging fruit these days, while one of the worst defensive units in the league is rarely acknowledged.
Things are worse on the defensive side of the ball than many realize, and football analyst Warren Sharp has the stats to back it up.
When it comes to late-game moments, which many would refer to as clutch situations, the Vikings have given up touchdowns on an average of 32.4 percent of the time inside of the last four minutes in games last season.
That was the league-worst statistic with the league-average sitting at 12 percent. To make matters worse, the No. 31-ranked team in that shocking statistic allowed touchdowns on 20.6 percent of the time. So the Vikings are a full 12.6 percent worse than the second-worst team.
Yikes.
And that isn’t even the biggest gut punch when it comes to this statistic. Sharp went a step further and analyzed the data all the way back to 2000.
“They ranked #686 of 686 teams since at least 2000,” Sharp posted on social media.
the Vikings allowed TDs on 32.4% of opponent drives in the final 4 minutes before halftime or the end of the game
worst in the NFL
NFL average was 12%
#31 was 20.6%
not only did they rank #32 in the NFL last season…
they ranked #686 of 686 teams since at least 2000
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) April 9, 2022
Here’s to hoping Ed Donatell packs a mean lunch and dinner. The days are going to be long trying to right all of the wrongs with this Vikings defense.
