Winning Isn’t Everything

"Sometimes when you win, you really lose, and sometimes when you lose, you really win, and sometimes when you win or lose, you actually tie, and sometimes when you tie, you actually win or lose. Winning or losing is all one organic mechanism, from which one extracts what one needs." – Gloria Clemente, White Man Can’t Jump

The Minnesota Vikings are 4-0. They sit alongside the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers as the only undefeated teams in the NFL. And yet, nobody actually thinks they’re actually good.

Despite their perfect record, the Vikings are 28th in total offense (272.8 ypg) and dead last in average yards per play (4.26). Minnesota has only scored six total offensive touchdowns this season. In fact, in two of their four wins, they didn’t score a single touchdown. The last time an NFL team started the season 4-0 despite having multiple games without a touchdown was in 1923. That’s right. It’s been over a century since we’ve seen a team win like this with such an offense this atrocious.

One reason, some would even say the single biggest reason, for the Vikings’ offensive ineptitude lies at the feet of diminutive quarterback Kyler Murray. The Minnesota QB1 has basically missed two full contests due to injury, but when he has played, he’s been

one of the worst quarterbacks in football. Murray is currently ranked 30 th in QBR (27.6) behind the turnover machines that are Justin Herbert and Jameis Winston, 34 th in passing yards per game (144.3) behind Cam Ward and the immortal Athan Kaliakmanis, 34th in passer rating behind backup Tyson Bagent and the journeyman Jacoby Brissett, and 42 nd in EPA per play behind the undrafted Jalon Daniels. And in case you forgot, there are only 32 teams in the NFL, which means that Kyler has been statistically worse than at least three backup NFL quarterbacks.

On Sunday, following a 15-10 win over the Miami Dolphins, head coach Kevin O’Connell said the quiet part out loud about his scuffling offense. “We’ve got to keep working at it. And we can’t accept any aspect of this that wasn’t a really good play by the defense. We’ve got to own our role in our own aspect of not moving the football

more consistently and go from there”, he said.

Were it not for the Brian Flores-led defense holding opposing teams to an NFL-best 12 points per game, or kicker Will Reichard being a perfect 12-for-12 on field goals, it’s entirely possible that these Vikings would be 0-4 instead of 4-0.

Look, wins are hard to come by in the NFL. We all know that. But there’s an old saying in sports that absolutely applies in this scenario: “Winning is the great deodorant”. Just like deodorant covers up bad body odor without actually cleaning the skin, winning covers up poor play and shoddy execution without ever fixing the underlying issues. 

The Vikings may be undefeated, but they are from a good team.