Has there ever been a most under fire team with a 10-2 record than the 2022 Minnesota Vikings?
This is a team one win away from clinching the NFC North, a team that has won 10 of their first 12 games, and a team with one of the very best players in the entire league in wide receiver Justin Jefferson. Even with all that, this is a Vikings’ squad that is a field goal underdog in a Week 14 road game against the Detroit Lions.
To put this in perspective, those Detroit Lions are 5-7 on the season. Yes, they are surging and showing more signs of life this season than many in recent memory, but they are still a team with a losing record playing against a team with double digit wins. The Vikings have won nine of their last ten games – ironically a streak that started with a win over these same Lions back in September – and they just have a knack of figuring out how to come away with a victory.
The issue that the Vikings have is that they aren’t blowing teams out. When the Kansas City Chiefs or Buffalo Bills win, it is often by a big score. The Vikings have lived on winning in on-possession games, claiming victories by eight points or less as their offense led by Kirk Cousins is more efficient and timelier than it is explosive.
Vikings Winning Mentality
That is why the Vikings – almost unbelievably -only have a point differential of +10 on the season even with their gaudy record. Critics point at the number of close wins, expecting the Vikings to eventually fall foul of the perceived bounces and breaks that have been going their way. The other way to look at this – and the way we should be viewing it by now – is that winning breeds more winning. When a team has a winning mentality, it is often hard to shake. Even when they are down – or just ahead – in games, the Vikings think they are going to win. There is no panic, no rush to get the scores they need, just a total belief in the system and in their teammates to pull out a victory.
This belief is why the Vikings are knocking on the door of the Philadelphia Eagles as potential top seeds in the NFC. It is also why fans with Minnesota Vikings tickets are already looking forward to a potential postseason run as they search for that elusive first Super Bowl win.
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