Asked earlier this month about the working relationship between coach Mike Zimmer and John DeFilippo, the team's first-year offensive coordinator, General Manager Rick Spielman answered with something of a summary of Zimmer's mission statement on offense.
"I know 'Zim' is very tied up on the defensive game-planning, but I know he gets together with 'Flip' once a week," Spielman said. "I know Zim knows what kind of football team he wants. We're always going to want to pride ourselves on playing good defense. We want to be a balanced attack on offense and, you know, try to win games like we always have around here."
If the Vikings remain built on those principles, it will come at a time when the league is racing rapidly in the other direction.
NFL teams are running the ball less frequently in 2018 than at any point in the league's history, averaging only 25.7 rushing attempts per game. The eight seasons with the fewest carries in NFL history have all come since 2010, and while the average number of runs could increase with the arrival of cold weather, 2018 is on pace to break the previous record for fewest number of carries, set in 2016, at 26.0.
Of the NFL's top 10 offenses, only two — the Saints and Patriots — even run the ball 40 percent of the time, with the Saints topping out at 47.2 percent.
But while teams are running the ball less than ever, they're also running it more efficiently than ever. In fact, the NFL's 4.37-yards-per-carry average this season is on pace to shatter the previous record set in 2012, when former Viking Adrian Peterson's MVP season and the arrival of read-option attacks in Washington and San Francisco powered the NFL to a 4.26-yard average.
This season, it seems again, that innovation has played a prominent role in driving greater efficiency. While the Broncos' relatively conventional ground game leads the league with a 5.2-yard average, teams such as the Rams and Chiefs — who combined for 105 points on Monday night — are among the league leaders in rushing average, making the most of their limited rushing attempts out of spread sets and creative play designs.
"I think maybe schematically, teams are doing some different things," Vikings running back Latavius Murray said. "You talk about RPOs [run-pass options], the ability to have a lot more chunk running plays — sweeps, RPOs. It's getting trendy, and teams are finding ways to run the ball and get outside, not so much inside. When you get outside, that's where those yards are going to come.