Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell is well-known enough for talking about “weighty downs” — plays or even sequences in a game that carry extra importance or impact on an outcome — that he could use the phrase to describe an evolution in the way he thinks about football.
At the end of his Monday news conference, O’Connell was asked about having a free bye week Sunday to watch football. What was he able to glean from that experience?
“It just seems like every play matters. It seems like whether if you’re going to try to say, hey, this is a weighty down, I don’t even know how you say that anymore because they all feel weighty throughout a game,” O’Connell said. “That second-and-7 explosive that you get in the play-pass game or that third-and-3 conversion where you get 3.5, they all seem to be massively important.”
I like listening to O’Connell talk about big-picture football topics, and I used that one as an entry point for a discussion on Tuesday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
Let’s take it a step further. I went back to the Vikings’ three victories this season and found five of those sneaky “weighty downs” that had a big impact on Minnesota winning, which I’ll list at the start of today’s 10 things to know:
- Two plays before Jordan Addison’s game-winning TD catch against the Browns, he had a catch that was almost perfectly described by O’Connell in the above passage. The Vikings were facing a third-and-3 from the Browns’ 21 with just under a minute left and trailing 17-14. Addison started wide right in the formation but came in motion hard across to the left side as the ball was snapped. Corner Myles Harden followed him, but he ducked behind the Browns linebackers and was held up for a split second after the snap by another route coming from the left. That let Addison get open in the left flat for a catch that gained the first down by a half-yard. If Carson Wentz throws too soon, Addison might not be ready. If he throws too late, Harden might break it up. If he throws off target, Addison might catch it but come up short of a first down. Fail to convert and the Vikings are likely trying a tying field goal and giving the Browns the ball back with 50 seconds left. Instead, they converted and scored a touchdown shortly thereafter. I didn’t find the play on any extended highlight reel, so I clipped it myself.
- The Browns had four chances to extend their 17-14 lead and punted every time. They had two chances to pin the Vikings deep in their own territory late in the game on the last two of those punts, but they had a botched play downing the ball at the 1 that led to a touchback and then a mediocre punt that gave Minnesota the ball at the 20 before the final TD drive. Pinning the Vikings deep on either of those plays might have tipped the game the other way.
- The Vikings’ 48-10 laugher over the Bengals had a subtle big play. With Minnesota up 7-0 early, Cincinnati was driving and had a first-and-10 at the Vikings’ 30. But a run play gained just 1 yard, setting up an obvious passing down on second-and-long. That was the play during which the Vikings pressured Jake Browning, Harrison Smith tipped his pass and Isaiah Rodgers grabbed the ball for a pick-six that started his incredible day. If the Bengals get 5 yards on first down instead of 1, maybe the entire game is different?
- The Vikings’ comeback win over the Bears started with a weighty sequence. Chicago was already up 17-6 and had the ball first-and-10 at the Minnesota 24 late in the third quarter. But a questionable holding call negated a nice first-down gain. Caleb Williams missed a wide open Cole Kmet after that. And then a strong pass rush led to an intentional grounding penalty. The Bears got 12 yards back on third down and tried a 50-yard field goal, which Cairo Santos pushed wide right. From that point forward, the Vikings scored 21 straight points on three consecutive TD drives.
- Even so, the Bears got within 27-24 with 2:02 left. Bears coach Ben Johnson elected not only to try a regular kickoff but also to try to have the ball booted out of the end zone. But Ty Chandler returned it from several yards deep, gaining decent yardage but more importantly taking the clock under 2 minutes. If the kickoff had simply been short of the landing zone (Minnesota’s 20), the Vikings automatically would have had the ball at the 40 with 2:02 left. Chicago could have used the two-minute warning and its final timeout to potentially get the ball back with about a minute left, if the Vikings didn’t gain a first down. Instead, the Vikings were able to bleed almost the entire clock and the Bears never had a real chance.
- In a moment of serendipity, a Daily Delivery listener emailed about that Santos field goal miss as I was working on this piece, chastising me for calling Santos “probably one of the worst active kickers I’ve ever seen” on an episode that aired more than a month ago. Santos has made 89.2% of his career field goals with the Bears, I have learned upon further review, making him quite accurate. Maybe I only see his misses?
- Santos missed Monday’s Bears game vs. Washington, but fill-in Jake Moody (who at 74.6% actually is one of the least accurate kickers in the modern NFL) made four tries including the game-winner for a 25-24 victory). All four NFC North teams are above .500.
- The Wild have scored seven goals in their last two games, and all of them have been on the power play.
- Also on Tuesday’s podcast, Jon Marthaler helped make sense of what Minnesota United has left to play for in Saturday’s regular-season MLS finale and looked ahead to the playoffs.
- Randy Johnson is expected to join me on Wednesday’s show to talk Gophers football. Minnesota is more than a touchdown home underdog against Nebraska.
