The Minnesota Vikings who some were calling the luckiest team last year or the most clutch due to their ability to pull out wins in close games had something else going for them as well. No, I’m not talking about WR Justin Jefferson who seemed many times last year to be about as close to unstoppable as you can be on his way to 1809 receiving yards, 8 touchdowns and an offensive player of the year award. As impressive as that was, I’m talking about team health. What’s interesting about the Vikings was that though they had some big names get injured they kept the catastrophic injuries to a minimum and that allowed their depth at certain positions to help them while not overwhelming them in a trial by fire type of situation.
Were the Minnesota Vikings good last year?
Minnesota started the season with a hot hand, winning 8 out of their 9 first games. They ended the season with an overall average Banged Up Score (The Predictors proprietary health ranking) of 81.8/100. One of the highest in the NFL last season. However, if you break up the first half of the season and the last since they played a total of 18 games including their playoff matchup with the Giants the 1st half was really the reason their average was so high. Over the first 9 games their average Banged Up Score (B.U.S) was an 87.1, while the last half of the season was only 76.6. A period in which they lost 4 games including their playoff loss compared to just 1 loss in the first half.
Who was injured on the Vikings last season?
More important might be the players that were sidelined during that second half. Christian Darrisaw (Concussion), Dalvin Tomlinson (Calf) and Irv Smith Jr. (High Ankle Sprain) all missed multiple games during the second half of the season while others like Za’Darius Smith (Knee, Personal) and Harrison Smith (Concussion, Neck and Knee) were more sporadic in their time missed but still couldn’t play at some point in the second half of the Vikings season. Even Lewis Cine who suffered a leg fracture missed more time during the later portion of the season than the early. All of that may seem obvious because they had a lower health ranking during that time but what’s important is understanding that it was so low not just because of the number of the players injured then but the caliber. The Vikings lost highly effective players at a bad time. You never want injuries, but you especially don’t want them as you make your playoff push and need to gain momentum going into the post season.
Unfortunately for the Vikings that is exactly what happened, and their season saw an earlier than expected exit against the Giants. With all that being said, in the scheme of things the Vikings were relatively healthy when compared to the rest of the NFL. Finishing 1st in health in the NFC North and 3rd in the NFL in their average weekly health ranking position at 4.5 out the 32 teams. Mush of that was due to players like Dalvin Cook who continued to play despite injury. It was an impressive year for the Vikings from a medical perspective. In their NFLPA report card, the players gave outstanding grades to the athletic training staff (A+), strength staff(A+) and Nutrition (A-). Another data point proving that Head Coach Kevin O’Connell and his staff have really made sure that they do everything in their power to keep their best athletes on the field. In the game of football injuries happen but if you can limit them with the proper teams, treatments, and preventative measures you stay a step ahead of everyone else and increase your chances at success. Something O’Connell did leading them to 13 wins (the most by any first-time head coach in history).
Next year if the Vikings can continue to stay healthy and hopefully sustain that health further into the second half of the season then they should make the playoffs again and go farther. They have good talent but added depth and continued health will be key.
