The Vikings are undefeated, not historic

“Historic” has become one of those buzz words that gets far too overused when discussing players and/or teams. It’s right up there with “generational talent.” If every team is “historic” or if every good player is “generational,” then the word loses meaning, and really no one and nothing is worthy of those classifications. And yeah, I know this sounds like you’re reading another edition of Cranky Blowhard Quarterly, but the discourse around the Minnesota Vikings has become one that has led to a very good defensive unit being put in a class they don’t belong in, and a team that, while 6-0, is being heralded as a real contender when it shouldn’t be. So let’s start with that defense and give them much-deserved flowers. They currently lead all defenses in EPA per play and second in DVOA. Their defensive success rate is also the best in the NFL, and their success rate against the pass is four percent better than the second-place Seattle Seahawks. Brian Flores is a maniac who is blitzing on 69 percent of plays – no other team is blitzing more than 44 percent and no other team is within four percentage points of how much pressure they generate. All of that can be true, while it also being factual that it isn’t a historic defense. It’s not even Flores’ best defense as the Vikings defensive coordinator. I asked the great Aaron Schatz – the creator of DVOA and Chief Analytics Officer at FTN Fantasy – to compare this Vikings unit to every other defense over the last decade through six games. This Vikings team ranks 10th in defensive DVOA over that span – the 2024 Vikings rank third. Teams ahead of them include the 2020 Steelers, who lost to the Browns in the wild card round after giving up nearly 50 points and the 2021 Bills – you know, the 13 second game defense. This Vikings defense is very good, but stop saying it’s historic – it isn’t. The offense, though, is what really keeps the Vikings away from any Super Bowl conversations. Minnesota is currently 31st in offensive success rate, ahead of only the Los Angeles Chargers. They are also 29th in yards per game and have the second-fewest passing yards in the league. For the Vikings to win the Super Bowl, they would have to do something truly unprecedented. Per Schatz, this Vikings team would have the worst DVOA of any Super Bowl winner “by a mile,” which includes the 2015 Broncos and the 2000 Ravens. So I guess the Vikings are historic in some ways, just not in any positive aspect. Minnesota is the last of the unbeaten teams in the league, and good for them. However, they’ve done it against the second-easiest schedule in terms of offenses faced in the league thus far – their remaining schedule of opposing offenses is the second-hardest. There will be teams that can score against this defense, and they have shown no signs of being able to win games with their offense thus far. Sure, you can eke out wins against Daniel Jones – good luck holding Josh Allen to 10 points. Or the 49ers. Or the Lions twice. Or the Packers twice. Or the Patriots. Or the Bears in a game that isn’t played in a waterpark. They’ve been a fun story of gutting out wins, but the Vikings’ carriage is going to turn back into a pumpkin very soon. That was the cold open – this is the Hot Read. Three and out Dan Campbell made the right decision to go for it I know the Dan Campbell schtick of treating fourth downs the way I do when I play Madden has gotten old to some, but his decision to keep his offense on the field on 4th-and-1 while inside their own 25 yard-line was the right one, and it was well thought out for the specific situation the Lions were in. There was less than five minutes remaining in the game. With so little time left, Campbell is valuing possessions over field position. In his head, he is thinking if they choose to punt, there is a good chance Jordan Love and the Packers get into field goal range, kill the rest of the clock, and have a chance at a game-winning field goal as time expires. Rather than give them that opportunity, he decides to go with a win-win scenario. At best, the Lions convert. At worst, the Packers will score quick and the Lions are guaranteed a chance to answer. Everyone views Campbell as a meathead because he isn’t 5-foot-7 and 102 pounds soaking wet, nor does he wear Miami Vice sunglasses and capris, but he is one of the smartest forward-thinking offensive minds in the game today. The Steelers are proving everyone wrong once again There is an endless cycle that happens every year in the NFL media sphere. Every offseason, just about every NFL analyst, writer, podcast host etc. proclaim that this will be the year the Steelers are terrible and win 5-6 games. And then every year, the Steelers win 9-10 games and either get to the playoffs or are the first team out. Then the process repeats the following offseason. This year was no different, but this time the doubters had some real firepower, so they thought. “Mike Tomlin was the only thing keeping that sad sack of an operation afloat,” they all gloated while giggling to themselves after the hiring of Mike McCarthy to be the next head coach. Well, the Steelers are 5-2 and will enter November in a tie for first place in the AFC North. They currently have the most wins in the AFC, tied with the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, and they have been incredibly solid on both sides of the ball over the last month. Since Week 5, the Steelers’ offense is eighth in the league in success rate, per Sumer Sports, and their rush success rate sits at No. 4 in the NFL in that span. And over that same three-week span, Aaron Rodgers has thrown for 700 passing yards, six touchdowns, and just one interception. Running back Jaylen Warren has also emerged as a true superstar out of the backfield for Pittsburgh. The former undrafted free agent from Oklahoma State is currently second among all running backs in total EPA, trailing only Christian McCaffrey, his 28 impact plays are second only to Jahmyr Gibbs, and he is fourth in the NFL in scrimmage yards (855). Defensively, though, is where the Steelers have really made their hay. Pittsburgh has allowed just three touchdowns in its last three games, and through seven games, they’ve allowed one second half touchdown. Over the course of their three-game win streak, the defense is third in the league in success rate and no team has a better success rate than Pittsburgh since Week 5, topping the second-place Chicago Bears by nearly two full percentage points. They’ve picked off seven passes, which is tied for the third-most in the NFL this season, and they’ve allowed just seven touchdown passes – fourth fewest in the league. And keep in mind, this is without Joey Porter Jr and Derrick Harmon, the former of which was traded after not appearing in a game for the Steelers this season and the latter of which is on IR. It can’t be overstated the job that new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham has done with this unit that was stuck in a very stale scheme for the latter years of the Mike Tomlin era. With a win in Week 8 against the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh will take a 6-2 record into the bye week and have sole possession of first place in the AFC North. Is this a team capable of making it to the Super Bowl? I’d like to see them add a bit more explosiveness to their passing game before I say yes. But after a long offseason of everyone making them out to be the expansion Bucs, I’d say Mike McCarthy is doing just fine in Year One in Pittsburgh. The Giants have a quarterback controversy Can you imagine if I told you back in August that the Giants would be the NFC East leaders after seven weeks, and that J.J. McCarthy would be a big reason why? Such is life in the NFL. The Giants traded a Day Three pick to the Vikings for their former first-round selection after naming Kyler Murray the team’s starter. After Jaxson Dart was lost for the season after less than five full quarters, and Jameis Winston began Jameis Winston-ing, John Harbaugh turned to McCarthy in the fourth quarter against the New Orleans Saints. And while trailing by three scores, McCarthy nearly led the Giants all the way back while throwing for 243 yards and a touchdown. McCarthy was named the starter against the Houston Texans shortly after, and many thought it was a disaster waiting to happen against a defense that had found its footing over the course of two straight wins. Instead, McCarthy marched the Giants into Houston and went 20-of-28 for 252 yards and helped New York pull off the overtime upset as more than 10 point underdogs. This now brings up a real question – what do the Giants do if McCarthy continues to play well and leads them to the playoffs? Jaxson Dart can have all the potential in the world, but when he spends more time in the blue tent than he does on the field, potential is all for naught. Plus, they could get a respectable draft pick in exchange for Dart from a quarterback-needy team or from a team in QB limbo. Of course, there are a lot of “ifs” to consider here. If McCarthy plays well for the remainder of the season. If the Giants make the playoffs. If a team or teams call and offer a substantial trade for Dart. But all of those scenarios are certainly plausible, and they become more likely with each win on the Giants’ record. One play that changed everything The Packers had ample opportunities to defeat the Detroit Lions. And while it was the worst officiated game you’ll ever see, several chances slipped through their fingers, both figuratively and literally. None bigger than Josh Jacobs, who was playing in his first game since being taken off the commissioner’s exempt list due to an ongoing case in which he was accused of beating his girlfriend. After the aforementioned failed fourth down conversion by the Lions, Jordan Love had Jacobs open in the front left corner of the end zone, but the ball was dropped. Green Bay settled for a field goal, which Trey Smack missed, leading to the Lions getting into field goal range, draining the clock, and winning on the final play. Josh Jacobs Drops The Touchdown Catch. That Could've Been His Second Touchdown Of The Day, But It Fell Right Through His Fingers. So Close. 😩 pic.twitter.com/SaXSMNlmaz — SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) October 25, 2026 Buy or sell Buy: The Baltimore Ravens are soft New Ravens head coach Jesse Minter was praised as a defensive genius during his time with the Los Angeles Chargers. Through seven weeks, though, the Ravens’ defense has been largely mediocre. They rank 18th in EPA per play, 15th in success rate, and are coming off a game in which they gave up 35 unanswered points after leading 13-0. Marlon Humphrey is a shell of his former self, and Roquan Smith is on a sharp decline, as well. This isn’t a defense that people fear, and Baltimore as a whole is becoming a team that you can bully. We’ve also already reached the yearly Lamar Jackson lower body injury that takes longer than expected for him to return to action, which is becoming a tradition in Baltimore. Many thought he would play against the Bengals, but Jackson said he wasn’t 100 percent and that he is “restricted” due to his injury. Tracy Wolfson of CBS reported during the broadcast in Week 7 that the Ravens expect Jackson to be back against the Buffalo Bills in Week 8. When speaking to the media, though, Minter said the team will “know more Wednesday,” per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. Meanwhile, Saquon Barkley is basically on one leg doing all he can to help the Eagles in a season that already looks lost with Jalen Hurts out for the year and the team losing its fifth straight game. And this isn’t me saying Jackson isn’t feeling some sort of pain, but it is me saying that he doesn’t play hurt. And when we’ve seen the likes of Ben Roethlisberger play with sprains and breaks, Philip Rivers play on a torn ACL, Josh Allen play with a broken foot, and 42 year-old Aaron Rodgers play with a broken wrist, it’s more than fair for Ravens fans to be annoyed at the situation. This is a far cry from the 2000s Ravens. The current Ravens lack grit. They lack toughness on both sides of the ball, and that’s becoming especially evident with their quarterback, who seems to have this same song and dance happen on a yearly basis. Sell: The Carolina Panthers I was low on the Panthers entering the season, and Sunday vindicated a lot of my worries. This is the second time already that they’ve allowed 40+ points in a game, and their offense was putrid. Bryce Young threw two interceptions, and the Panthers turned the ball over four times while their defense gave up over 250 yards on the ground for the second time this season. Carolina is allowing 5.16 yards per carry – the only team in the NFL to allow north of five yards per carry this season. They aren’t going to be able to score 35 points a game and win shootouts week in and week out. They do play in the NFC South, however, so a division title certainly isn’t out of the question. As far as this team being a real contender, though? They aren’t close. Buy: Nick Emmanwori is the NFL’s best chess piece There isn’t a more versatile player in the NFL today than Seahawks cornerback Nick Emmanwori. His position on the depth chart may be at nickel, but he is so much more than that. At 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, he ran step for step with Xavier Worthy, the NFL’s fastest player. He has two sacks and nine pressures as a pass rusher, and his pressure rate is sixth in the NFL (min. 25 pass rush snaps). In coverage, he’s allowed less than 100 receiving yards and zero touchdowns through seven weeks while also ranking top 15 in yards per coverage snap. He is becoming a true one-of-one player in the NFL, and the engine of the Seahawk’s incredible defense. Prediction to track NFL predictions to track Steelers will trade Joey Porter Jr: Correct Rams will beat Broncos handedly: Incorrect Lions will blowout Panthers: Incorrect Marvin Harrison Jr and Brian Thomas Jr will be traded: Half correct Jordan Love will have explosive game as Packers defeat Cowboys: Correct Fan will rush the field in Steelers vs. Saints with political message: Incorrect Well, there was no streaker in Paris with some message painted on their chest. It was a swing from left field, but it was a fun chance to take. Unfortunately for myself, I’m back to predicting blowouts, which as you can see above, has a terrible track record. I’m going to take the Jaguars to beat the Colts by two scores. Shane Steichen’s decision to keep playing Daniel Jones is questionable at best and malpractice at worst. This is a double whammy of a prediction, but I’ll also say that Week 8 will be Steichen’s final week as Colts head coach.

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