MINNEAPOLIS — The bye week went about as well for the Minnesota Vikings as any first-place team could have hoped.
The Green Bay Packers, perhaps the Vikings' biggest threat in the division, lost to the Washington Commanders, while Minnesota had an additional week to shake off any aches and pains from the first six weeks. This includes an offense that has endured its fair share of growing pains with first-year head coach Kevin O'Connell's new scheme.
"Let's go play better football than we did before," said Vikings running back Dalvin Cook. "Our record is 5-1 and let's see what we can do if we play better football than we did before."
It's hard to be critical of a 5-1 start to a season, but players and personnel have been candid about the issues with consistency, especially on offense. In the Vikings' 24-16 win over the Miami Dolphins prior to the bye, they finished with just 234 total yards, converted just two of their 12 third-down attempts and punted 10 times.
"We still haven't played our best ball yet, honestly," said Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson, who has the third-most receiving yards in the NFL entering Week 8. "There's so many more things that we need to fix. The plays, they're there, we just gotta execute them."
While Vikings' offense continues to find its way in O'Connell's system, they've been able to capitalize in crucial moments of games. According to Sportradar, the Vikings have a plus-33 point differential in the final four minutes of each half — the best in the NFL through six weeks — a major turnaround from last year when they finished third-worst in the league at minus-53.
“It comes down to those margins and how can we be good on some plays and situations that maybe don’t always get talked about on Monday morning, but they’re winning plays and winning philosophies for us,” O’Connell said. “Those margins become even smaller, and we’re going to have to be that much better.”
Each of Minnesota's last four games have been decided by a single score, partly due to the inconsistencies on the offensive side. Against the Chicago Bears, the Vikings seemed poised to runaway from their NFC North rival when they scored touchdowns on each of their first three drives to take a commanding 21-3 lead. The offense, however, was held scoreless for nearly 35 minutes and Chicago rallied to take a fourth-quarter lead.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins scored on sneak with 2:26 to play and cornerback Cameron Dantzler Jr. stripped the ball on the Bears' ensuing possession to seal the victory, but it was a game where Minnesota missed some opportunities to put the game out of reach.
"Our red zone execution has been pretty darn good, but the times we haven't finished, I think it comes down to execution," said O'Connell. "(When) the plays (are there), we have to make them. And then when there's better calls that I can make, I can certainly be better for the group."
The Arizona Cardinals, the Vikings' opponent Sunday, have given up the sixth-most points in the league while allowing the eighth-most passing yards per game. The Vikings have the 12th-worst passing attack in the league, but Jefferson has been able to make the most of it with 46 receptions for 654 yards and two scores.
While Jefferson continues to shine, the rest of the receiving corps has yet to get much going. Every other receiver is averaging less than 50 yards per game. In fact, the three receiving leaders behind Jefferson — Adam Thielen, K.J. Osborn and Irv Smith Jr. — have combined for just 601 yards this season.
"I think if you asked anybody in the organization — or outside the organization — if we could be 5-1 at this point ... I think everybody would be like, 'Heck, yeah,'" said Thielen. "But we know we need to get a lot better ... The teams that find ways to get better throughout the season, those are the teams that do things at the end of the season that allows them to go deep in the playoffs."
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