If the Vikings wanted to prove that they’re for real, they’re really not

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There’s an old canard in sports: “You are what your record says you are.”

It’s frequently proven wrong, and it may have never been proven more wrong than it has been by the 2022 Minnesota Vikings. Coming into their Saturday game against the Indianapolis Colts, the Vikings had a 10-3 record with a minus-1 point differential. They had just set a franchise record (the team has been in existence since 1961) by allowing more than 400 yards in five straight games, and head coach Kevin O’Connell had raised legitimate questions about the defense run by Ed Donatell.

Things did not start out well against the Colts’ offense — which, by Football Outsiders’ metrics, is the worst in the league.

The Colts had a 17-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, and to be fair to Minnesota’s defense, it wasn’t all about that.

Running back Dalvin Cook’s fumble didn’t help.

Nor did the Vikings’ special teams miscues.

Nor did the offensive line issues. .

“We get off to a good start on that offensive drive to respond to some really bad football to start the game, and then, we put the ball on the ground offensively,” O’Connell told Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network at the end of that first quarter. Turnovers and bad plays on special teams, and defensively, we’ve just got to find a way to tighten up on coverage — to be a little bot more aggressive in those situational downs.”

So far, none of it is working, and that’s been par for the course for a Vikings team that is currently the NFL’s two-seed, and doesn’t scare anybody.

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