Statistical Drive-By

More about how lucky our Vikes were last season ... aaaand how bad our defense was.

Compare our Vikes to the rest of the NFCN, for example:



More context to love on the Lions a bit.

I recently saw someone ask if the Vikings 10 game preseason losing streak was a record. Nope! Well it's a team record. So congratulations to the culture. The previous team record was 8 in a row from 61-62. It's the first time we've even lost more than 1 in a row since 2012-13 when we lost 5 in a row. But the Falcons lost 12 in a row from 2017-2019, the Rams lost 11 in a row from 92-95, and the Saints lost 10 in a row from 17-19. And those are the longest streaks since 1983.

The Ravens just won a record 24 straight preseason games, which just ended, so you can't tell me Harbaugh doesn't want to establish a culture of winning, even with his bench players. I like it! Winning is a mentality. Prior to that, the 49ers won 13 in a row 91-93. The Ravens had another 10 game streak from 98-2000. The Panthers (02-05), and Bills (18-22) also had 10 game streaks. Those are the longest preseason win streaks since 1983.

The Vikings had an 11 game win streak back in the 60's, which included a 14-0-1 stretch, and a 19-1-1 stretch 1962-67. Zimmer ofc won his first 9 preseason games and started 14-1. Preseason champs baby!

When few starters and many backups don't play, the W-L record is meaningless. And when you don't run your Offense or your Defense, the preseason games don't help your opponent scout you. Preseason games are about the money, about the backups you keep, and about the backups you acquire on waivers.

Egg head huh? Well since you put it like that ... it's very close actually. The Vikings had 7 fumbles through the first 3 games, which is the most since the 2003 Rams had 8. That's lost fumbles btw. The 2005 Saints also had 7. The 7 is also a new team record. The 2013 Vikings lost 5 fumbles in the first 3 games. The 9 total turnovers is not even close to the most total turnovers however. The 1997 Saints had 19 thru the first 3 games (12 INT 7 fumb). The 1962 Vikings had 15 (10/5).

Thru 4 games, the Vikings still only had 7 as they did not fumble vs the Panthers. The 1976 Steelers lost 11 fumbles thru 4 games. And not to give the homers any false hope, but ironically that Steelers team started 1-4 that year, then won their final 9 in a row to finish 10-4, and made it to the CC. The 7 also isn't even a team record. The 1981 Vikings lost 8 fumbles in their first 4 games (2-2) and had 13 total turnovers. The 1962 Vikings had 22 turnovers (15 INT 7 fumb).

Thru 5 games the Vikings have now lost 8 fumbles, which isn't even close to a record. The 1960 Giants, 1970 Bills, and those same 1976 Steelers all lost 13 fumbles. The 8 ties a team record however, with the 1963 (2-3) and 1981 (3-2) teams. The most total turnovers thru 5 games is held by the 1960 Giants and Cardinals with 25. The Vikings currently have 12. Teams take care of the ball much better these days however, so the most turnovers thru 5 games since 2000 was the 2013 Giants who had 20. They were 0-5, but rallied to finish 7-9, so more hope for ERATT Nation.

The team record was by the 1962 Vikings who had 23 turnovers, and the 1963, 1978, and 2005 squads were next with 17. Oh boy, looks like I got more good news for ERATT. That 2005 squad (12 INT 5 fumb) started 1-4 and rallied to finish 9-7 (missed the playoffs). Of the previous 10 Vikings teams that started 1-4, that was the best finish.



But lets look ahead. With 2 more fumbles, they will tie the team record of 10 thru the first 6 games, set by the 1962 Vikings. 8 is currently tied with the 2001 and 2002 squads for modern day highs. The 1960 Giants, 1974 Falcons, and 1987 Chiefs lost 15 fumbles. The 2011 Cardinals (1-5) had 11 for a modern day high, and the Cowboys had 9 as recently as 2020 (2-4). A Zimmer team never had more than 6 thru the first 6 games, which he pulled off in 2018 and 2019. The 2022 Vikings only lost 1 fumble thru the first 6, which tied the 1980 and 2014 team record. Pick a lane KEVIN!

My Vikings-loving heart...

The possibility is quickly slipping away now, but for a bit there, it was looking like we were on a trajectory to play the Lions in the playoffs, and with us already scheduled to play them twice in the final 3 weeks, we were looking at 3 times in 4 weeks, including 2 weeks in a row at Detroit, so it got me wondering if that had been done before. I knew the latter had been done before, but 3 times in 4 games?

Only twice has a team played the same opponent 3 times in a 4 game period, but both those spanned 2 seasons. The 1965 Baltimore Colts played the Packers in the 2nd to last game of the year, then met them in the playoffs 2 weeks later, then they played them in the season opener in 1966. The Colts lost all 3 xD.

The other Baltimore team, the Ravens, pulled off an even stranger scenario just recently. Last year they played at Cincinnati in the season finale, then at Cincinnati the following week in the wildcard round, and then at Cincinnati in week 2 this year. They lost the first 2. They could've easily scheduled that game week 1 and made the Ravens play 3 straight games in Cincinnati xD.

The Vikings/Lions would be the first to do it in the same season since at least the 1940's. It wasn't uncommon for teams to play an opponent 3-4 times back in the leather helmet days, and consecutively. In 1943 the Giants and Redskins played each other 3 straight weeks. It was just the Redskins toying around with them. They had a 2 game lead over the Giants with 2 to go, but then let the Giants win the final 2 to force a tie-breaker "playoff" game, which the Redskins won, before losing to the Bears in the championship.

Teams that have played the same opponent in back to back weeks, in the same stadium (season finale + playoffs) in recent memory:

1988 Oilers at Browns (split)
1993 Broncos at Raiders (Raiders)
1993 Packers at Lions (split)
2000 Rams at Saints (split)
2001 Jets at Raiders (split)
2009 Packers at Cardinals (split)
2009 Eagles at Cowboys (Cowboys)
2022 Ravens at Bengals (Bengals)

The Vikings haven't played the same opponent in back to back weeks since 2012 against the Packers, week 17 and wildcard weekend. Peterson coming up just short of the NFL single season rushing record one week, and Joe Webb coming up just short as a pocket passer the next.

But in order for us to play Detroit 3 times in 4 weeks, they either have to get past the 49ers for the 2nd seed, or we have to somehow get the 6th seed. Then we just need the schedule makers to make us play at Detroit in the opener next year.

Windowsupdateboi: The Vikings are a 5 point and 8 point loss from completing the one score loss gauntlet.