It's easy to be thankful for the Vikings and what they represent this season.
On game days, player accountability, support for each other and love of football shines like a quasar. Their play style is predicated on toughness, unrelenting effort and intelligence. It's a beautiful thing.
It evokes a thousand details, moments and messages that are meriting thanks.
NFL.com's Jeffri Chadiha on Monday identified *one* thing each NFL team ought to be thankful for as we throttle into Turkey Day and the holiday season. The Vikings have an overwhelming number of options.
Such as …
Head Coach Kevin O'Connell for his stewardship of a selfless team. Quarterback Sam Darnold for his weekly resilience. Wide receiver Justin Jefferson for continually resetting the bar. Right tackle Brian O'Neill for consistently dominating. Running back Aaron Jones, Sr., for playing hard. The outside linebackers – all of 'em. Green dot Blake Cashman for his leadership and safety/linebacker/cornerback/defensive lineman Joshua Metellus for doing everything that's asked of him at a high level. The list goes on and on.
View postgame celebration photos from the Vikings 30-27 win over the Bears during Week 12 of the 2024 season.
Chadiha picked a great choice: Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores. He wrote the following:
As much as Sam Darnold deserves some love here, Minnesota's defensive coordinator has meant even more to what the Vikings have been able to do in a season when most people expected them to be mediocre. The Minnesota D started fast and remains an elite unit today, largely because of the creative schemes Flores has used to pressure quarterbacks and generate big plays. The Vikings rank among the best in the league in sacks, takeaways and points allowed. In fact, seven of Minnesota's 11 opponents have been held to 17 or fewer points this season, which speaks to the consistency of this defense.
Chadiha recognized that the Vikings defense stumbled in the final couple of minutes in regulation Sunday at Chicago, but collected itself when it mattered most, which underlined Flores' excellent unit.
For what it's worth, Flores is one of two coordinators selected by Chadiha, and the other is Lions Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson. Four other (head) coaches were tabbed: Arizona's Jonathan Gannon, Los Angeles Chargers' Jim Harbaugh, New Orleans interim Darren Rizzi and Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin.
MVP race in NFC North
The NFC North is shaping up as football's strongest division, with Detroit (10-1), Minnesota (9-2) and Green Bay (8-3) all playoff-primed and very much alive for a chance to stake a claim to the No. 1 seed.
There's another race that's neck-and-neck, statistically: Jared Goff's and Darnold's case for NFL MVP.
Goff, 30, has a better probability to win the award according to oddsmakers. The argument for him is relatively simple – quarterback of the best team, record-wise, and has the most yards per attempt (9.0) and fourth-quarter comebacks (3) in the league. But the separation between players is objectively small.
Darnold, 27, has competitive stats. In some aspects, he's outperformed Goff.
At the beginning of the week, Will Ragatz of Minnesota Vikings on SI examined the MVP comparison. Ragatz started by listing various sportsbooks' favorite candidates: Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Saquon Barkley and Goff, who is around +700 to take home the honors. Darnold has odds as low as +10,000.
Ragatz wrote the following:
There's little doubt that Goff is having a better season. He's the quarterback of the best team in the NFL, which automatically makes him a legitimate candidate for the award. But the gap, when it comes to the numbers, isn't that wide. And at 9-2, the Vikings remain just one game back of the 10-1 Lions.
Ragatz highlights that both team's sprint to the finish and rematch with potentially epic implications in Week 18 could determine the kings of the north and conference's top seed. We'll add: Maybe the MVP?
Goff edges Darnold through Week 12 in several categories, including completion rate (72.9% vs. 67.6%) and passer rating (109.9 vs. 101.7), and fewer turnover-worthy plays per Pro Football Focus (13 vs. 17).
But in the same breath, Darnold has scored better via PFF in big-time throws, with 22 compared to Goff's nine. Darnold also holds an advantage in QBR (59.3 vs. 57.6) and has 22 total touchdowns to Goff's 21.
Ragatz elaborated:
Darnold averages 8.8 intended air yards per pass, which is fifth-highest among 36 qualified quarterbacks. That stat measures how far beyond the line of scrimmage his average target travels. Goff is 29th at 6.7. Darnold, who has been excellent on deep balls, leads the league in total air yards on completions. Where Goff leads the league is in yards after the catch per completion (7.2). Darnold is 29th at 4.7.
Ragatz didn't spot the difference to knock the play of Goff, who is expertly executing designs to quickly get the ball into playmaker's hands, but to emphasize that Darnold is thriving on passes down the field.
Inherent bias aside, one style is more challenging. Darnold's MVP résumé deserves more respect.
Condolences to family of former assistant coach
Former Vikings assistant coach John Brunner passed away on Thursday, Nov. 14.
Brunner served as running backs coach under Jerry Burns for three seasons from 1989-91. He held offensive assistant positions for three other clubs, including NFC North rivals Detroit and Green Bay in the early 1980s. He also was an offensive assistant in the college ranks for more than a decade.
At the end of Brunner's 26-year career in the NFL, he was a scout for San Francisco and part of the team's win over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. He is survived by his wife, Pat, and seven children.
You can read his full obituary here.
