Vikings must stop giving the ball away — and need to start taking it away
Something the Vikings might want to do besides decreasing giveaways:
Increase takeaways.
In some ways, new defensive coordinator Brian Flores is running neck-and-neck with legendary mentor Bill Belichick through five games. And not in a six-Super-Bowl-winning good way.
The Vikings have only three takeaways. Belichick's Patriots have two.
The Vikings have only one interception, a league-low effort shared by the Patriots and four others.
The Vikings have a league-low minus-9 turnover differential. The Patriots are minus-8.
So, yeah, takeaways — or a serious lack thereof — are also playing a sizeable role in the Vikings and Patriots sitting at 1-4, a league-worst 0-3 at home and smack dab in the middle of the Caleb Williams sweepstakes.
Per his lawsuit against the NFL, we all know where B-Flo stands on tanking. As Dolphins owner Stephen Ross can assure you, Flores is strongly against it, so it's time for Flores to do something — anything — to step up the picks and punch-out fumbles.
And to those who argue that takeaways are all just random acts or bad plays by the offense, you haven't been watching defenders frothing at the site of a Viking holding pigskin in the first quarter of games this year.
A few moments were spent with Chargers safety Alohi Gilman discussing this chum-in-the-water shark mentality back when he violently ripped the ball from tight end T.J. Hockenson for an opening-drive takeaway in the Vikings' Sept. 24 loss.
"It does make you go after the ball a little bit harder knowing it's on tape that they don't protect it," he said. "I just reached in and took his money. It's no surprise that me or someone else took the ball from him."
The Vikings need more of that mentality and production defensively, Vikings safety Harrison Smith said after Sunday's loss to the Chiefs.
"The plays are right there," he said. "We just have to go make them."
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Smith said coming up short on takeaways is becoming a recurring theme this season. And the irony of that truth is palpable.
Ed Donatell was part pariah, part scapegoat when he was fired as defensive coordinator after his one-and-done 13-4 season led to a first-round playoff upset. His critics were justified for saying he played things a little too soft a lot too often.
But …
The Dark Days of Donatell '22 also came with these statistics:
—Seven takeaways during a 4-1 start.
—At least one takeaway in each of the first nine games (8-1).
—At least one takeaway in 13 of 18 games (12-1).
—Top 10 in total takeaways (25), interceptions (15) and fumble recoveries (10).
—Six turnover battles lost in 18 games (2-4) as opposed to five in five games this year.
—And, oh yeah, game-clinching takeaways in the final 1:19 of regulation or overtime of one-score wins over the Lions, Bears, Jets and Bills.
Flores was a strong hire who is an improvement over Donatell. He's getting better as he learns his current personnel and will go to a higher level if the front office proves capable of improving his personnel beyond this season.
But, having said that, when it comes to one very important part of football — takeaways! — the Dark Days of Donatell don't seem quite as bleak anymore.
