The Vikings are taking a different approach with their punting this season by having Chris Kluwe focus more on hang time than distance.

After giving up four punt returns for touchdowns last season, the Vikings are willing to sacrifice distance on Kluwe's punts if it means more fair catches. The philosophy worked last week as the Lions returned only one of Kluwe's four punts for seven yards. "We're really looking for the net yardage to make sure they don't get any big returns," Kluwe said. "Basically put our defense in a good position when they go on the field. It's a little bit differently mentally. I really have to focus more on kicking it straight up than out." Kluwe said his goal is to get his hang time to at least equal the distance the ball travels. "So if you had a 42-yard punt, you'd want the hang time to be 4.2 seconds or higher," he said. "Ideally, it would be 4.5 or 4.6 seconds. You kind of want the numbers to match because that gives your gunners and core guys enough time to get down there. Usually, it will force a fair catch or your guys will be close enough to where they can make the tackle." Kluwe undeniably has a strong leg. He set team records last season for gross average (47.6) – a record that stood since 1964 -- and in 50-yard punts (35). But in evaluating the film, the Vikings noticed that returners had too much room to operate after catching the ball. "You have to figure that every tenth of a second [in hang time] is probably another five yards or so that guys are getting down the field," he said. "If you look at film, our guys were usually about 15 yards or so away when the guy caught the ball, which is a pretty big cushion for a returner to work with. Now, our guys are like right up in their face and forcing a lot of fair catches." Kluwe said the Vikings defense is good enough to compensate for any lost yardage on his punts. "We can afford to take a little bit of distance off the punt because our defense does such a good job of stuffing people," he said. "They can take a lot more of that onto their shoulders. We just want to make sure we don't give up the big home run return because if they don't get on the field, there's nothing they can do."