Minnesota Vikings Stumble Into Decisive Win Against Indianapolis Colts

The Vikings stem a slide after consecutive losses, but it doesn't feel like they're back. How could they win so decisively and still feel like a struggle?

Photo by David Berding/Getty Images

The 2024 Minnesota Vikings are not the 2016 Minnesota Vikings are not the 2003 Minnesota Vikings. In a very literal sense, that’s clearly true but the current iteration of the franchise needed to string some more wins together before the fanbase started conjoining the hopeless feelings of an inexorable slide into misery.

Rather than be overwhelmed by a slow, all-consuming mudslide, the Vikings put up a small dam against the misery – a 21-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, who just benched their starting quarterback.

How can a sportswriter convince a traumatized fanbase that things are different when, in essence, they’re not?

They can’t. Not with advanced statistics and talk of sustainability. Instead, it's up to the Vikings to do so, and the only cure to this thousand-yard stare is a win. Or, really, several wins. Minnesota didn’t play well enough in this game to stem the tide of pessimism, but a multiple-score win is at least a start.

As always, it’s preferable to have to learn harsh lessons in a win rather than in a loss. The Vikings were somewhat substantial favorites – 5.5 points – over the Colts, but didn’t live up to their esteem until late in the game.

And though the Vikings were dealing with some adversity, having lost their left tackle and putting their starting tight end on a pitch count, the Colts were dealing with more.

The Offense Sputters Successfully

One element the Vikings have been focusing on has been reducing the cognitive load for the offense and “simplifying” the plays.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that the actual plays themselves will have fewer answers or that we won’t see complex route trees but that there might be more simply worded playcalls for the “can” plays – the second play quarterbacks check to at the line of scrimmage when the look isn’t good for the first play.

There are other ways to “simplify” an offense without making the offense less responsive, but the point remains the same — we’re not quite sure what it means except that it’s supposed to get out of the huddle faster.

As head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters on Friday, “I think to the naked eye, [the offense] might look the same. To our players, they might feel that way, hopefully, and that’s the intent.”

In most games, the issues with offensive execution started shortly after the first offensive drive – where the Vikings have been stellar – there’s reason to believe it’s not the players or execution but the process of playcalling itself that might have been the issue.