Analysis: Vikings head to L.A. knowing that momentum always, always swings both ways in the NFL

A year ago, the Vikings lost at home in Week 7, went to Los Angeles on four days’ rest and lost again.

This year, the Vikings lost at home in Week 7, are heading back to L.A. on four days’ rest and will …

Stay tuned with a stiff upper lip, Vikings Nation, because …

“There certainly are ebbs and flows to every game, every season,” Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores said before his team’s latest ebb, a 28-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday.

Perhaps it helps that Thursday’s game is against a 4-3 Chargers team that has lost three of its last four games. Perhaps not, since last year’s loss was to a Rams team that was 2-4 before momentum and better health smiled upon it.

Momentum is a funny thing. Unless, of course, you’re an NFL team and you can’t control it — the good, the bad, probably the ugly, too — no matter how hard you try to match the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only team to finish an NFL season with a perfect record.

On Sunday in Denver, the Broncos trailed the New York Giants 19-0 entering the fourth quarter. Fifteen minutes later, they won 33-32, becoming the first team to score 33 points in the fourth quarter of a game they were shut out in through three quarters. Quarterback Bo Nix, drafted two spots below the Vikings’ J.J. McCarthy, became the first player with multiple touchdowns passing and rushing in the same quarter in NFL history.

He should know. He played for the Indianapolis Colts in 2022 when they led Kevin O’Connell’s Vikings 33-0 at halftime only to lose 39-36 in overtime in the largest comeback win in NFL history.

“We had momentum,” Fries said. “It’s just an emotional feeling you have for a while.”

Until you don’t.

“Exactly,” Fries said.

O’Connell is 37-20 as Vikings coach in the regular season. He is 10-8 after a loss, including last year’s playoff loss to the Rams after losing at Detroit with the NFC’s top seed up for grabs in the regular-season finale. He’s had five losing streaks, three of them lasting only two games, one lasting three and the other lasting four.

Showing no signs of outward panic as a leader and play-caller also has served O’Connell well and meshes with Flores, the team’s defensive play-caller. Aggressive play-callers by nature, they talk often during the game about what each can do to help the other regain or retain momentum.

“You got to stay even,” Flores said. “Lead by example that way, so your players respond correctly whether we’re winning or losing.”

All that sounds great. Until the offense turns the ball over and the defense fails to take it back.

A year ago at this point in the season, the Vikings were 5-1. They had 10 giveaways, 14 takeaways and at least one takeaway in each game.

This year, the Vikings are 3-3, alternating wins and losses. They have one more giveaway, seven fewer takeaways and have only two takeaways outside of the five in their 48-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Flores was asked how the good teams he has been on of have successfully surfed these inevitable ebbs and flows. Flo was Bill Belichick’s defensive play-caller in 2018 when the New England Patriots started the year 1-2 and finished it by dominating the Rams’ No. 2-ranked offense 13-3 in the Super Bowl.

“I think it boils down to relationships,” Flores said. “The best teams I’ve been a part of have had great relationships within the team. And those relationships allow them to overcome the adversity that’s going to hit within the season.

“We know it’s going to happen. It’s not going to always be 30-0 [wins]. That’s just not this league. It’s hard. There’s adversity. There’s frustration. There’s stress. There’s anxiety. All those things occur in the National Football League, as well as in life. … I think you get through those through the people around you and with the people around you.”