Dane Mizutani: The next step for the Vikings? How about a convincing win?

The Vikings always find a way to make things interesting. Aside from the decisive 23-7 win over the Green Bay Packers in the season opener, they have yet to win a game that wasn’t close right up to the final gun.

But give the Vikings credit: They have found a way to win them.

After Sunday’s 27-22 victory over the New York Jets at U.S. Bank Stadium, they boast a perfect 9-0 record in games decided by one possession. They take an impressive 10-2 record into next weekend’s game against the Lions in Detroit, where they can clinch NFC North with a win.

What’s the next step for the Vikings? How about a convincing win?

That has proven to be elusive as the Vikings have allowed good teams and bad to hang around and make it interesting. Whether it has been the Super Bowl-contending Buffalo Bills or the No. 1 pick-contending Chicago Bears, the script has been the same.

It happened again on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium as the Vikings escaped when Cam Bynum intercepted a pass at the goal line with 10 seconds left. It should never have been that close.

In complete control at halftime, the Vikings had a prime opportunity to run away for their first blowout win of the season. Instead, they left the door open for the Jets, and journeyman quarterback Mike White took over the game. He moved the ball with relative ease after halftime, finding receivers all over the field, and finishing  31 of 57 for 369 yards.

Luckily for the Vikings, the defense managed to step up in the red zone, making a couple of crucial stops at the goal line. On back-to-back possessions to close the game, the Vikings forced a turnover on downs in the end zone, then followed it with Bynum’s game-sealing pick.

There’s no reason for the Vikings to apologize for their current record; they have put themselves into a good position, and absolutely should consider themselves Super Bowl contenders, only a game back of the Philadelphia Eagles for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

That said, the Vikings need to develop a killer instinct in the final month of the regular season. If they continue to play with fire, they are going to get burned at some point — and the postseason would be a bad place for it to happen.

If the Vikings need an example of how to properly take away an opponent’s will, they can look inward at their result from a couple of weeks ago. In a humbling, 40-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Vikings were thoroughly dominated from start to finish. If they were ever thinking about a comeback in that game, the Cowboys scored on the opening possession of the third quarter to effectively put the game out of reach.

That’s what good teams do. They leave no doubt. As soon as they smell blood in the water, they go in for the kill. That’s the next step for the Vikings, and there are a handful of games coming up that offer a chance.

Why not dominate next week against the Lions to win the division title in emphatic fashion? Why not crush the lowly Indianapolis Colts at home? Why not manhandle the New York Giants in a potential playoff preview? Why not close the regular season with big wins over the Packers and Bears in back-to-back weeks?

To this point, the Vikings have consistently made things way more interesting than they have to be.

It hasn’t cost them yet. It might if they don’t shape up.

Dane Mizutani is from Hawaii and somehow ended up covering the Wild in the State of Hockey. No, it doesn’t make sense to him, either.