They are not better than 1-6 would indicate.
All they have is Peterson. The more they ask him to carry the team, the worse their record gets.
Think of it this way. A great game by a QB would be 450 yards. A great game by a running back would be 150. Passing is more productive than running.
You need a moderately successful running game and a dominating passing game to win.
The Vikings have that backwards. They also have it backwards on D. They can stop the run, but they are incapable of stopping the pass.
AP is leading the league in rushing. Last year the leading rusher lead his team to 6-10.
Originally Posted by: Dexter_Sinister
I would argue that they are a bit better than 1-6 would indicate, just that the leadership is still very green which hasn't helped in the 'W' department. The defensive secondary definitely hasn't helped much either, but they've had moments.
They have more than AP, though. Allen is on his way to a career year right now. Ponder is getting very valuable in-game experience which has opened up the passing game a bit (which ultimately helps with the run game as you guys already noticed from this past Sunday).
Regardless, it is what it is and the Vikings are 1 and 6. I'll take it (mostly because it's leading to a high pick meanwhile they've been extremely competitive in every loss with the exception of the Bearce game).
I agree with you in that passing is far more productive in today's NFL than running is. Just my luck as a Viking fan.
The Vikings so far this year have a top 5-10 run defense with a 3.6 yards per rush average and a total allowed rushing yards of 615 (I was going to dispute your claim that they can stop the run based on GB's rushing that last drive and the poor performance they had against San Diego in the opener, but I looked at the stats and was surprised), so you are right on that front. But they are actually very average at stopping the pass (better statistically than the reigning World Champs) with a 6.8 yards per passing attempt average and a total allowed yards of 1,924 (thanks to the first half leads being blown in the 2nd halves of games). So I wouldn't say that are incapable of stopping the pass, just average.
And lastly, the Vikings will be very fortunate/unfortunate (depending on how you look at it) to finish the season at 6-10. Fortunate in that they should end up with a worse record than 6-10, unfortunate in that it would lead to a mediocre/poor draft position.
Thanks to TheViking88 for the sig!!