Minnesota Vikings: What You Need to Know Heading into Week 12

The Minnesota Vikings continue to find ways to lose. Early in the season it was the defense not being able to come up with a stop, allowing teams to score the winning touchdown in the last minute of the game. 

On Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, the defense actually played well against the best team in the NFC. This time the offense decided to throw this one away—literally. Four turnovers by quarterbacks Christian Ponder and Matt Cassel resulted in 20 points for Seattle. That was the difference in their 41-20 loss. 

Another game and another ugly loss—this is really getting old. At least the Vikings are in good company. 

Even though the Vikings were facing the Seahawks and were supposed to lose, it should not have been this bad. 

	Total Yards	Rush Yards	TOP	3rd Down %
Season Avg.	362.0	153.4	30:39	40%
vs. Vikings	323.0	93.0	25:51	36%

Of course, these statistics don't always tell the entire story.

There are people who feel that a Vikings win is a bad thing at this point in the season. Last week, Michael Rand of the Star Tribune broke down the NFL race to be the worst and thus secure the top pick in the draft.

Team	Wins	Losses	Win % of Opp.
Jacksonville	1	9	0.377
Houston	2	8	0.491
Atlanta	2	8	0.533
Minnesota	2	8	0.548
Tampa Bay	2	8	0.600
Washington	3	7	0.500

Right now, Jacksonville has the inside track to secure the top pick with only one win. Working against the Jaguars, however, is that they face the easiest remaining schedule of any team in the running.  

Division Standings

Week 11 was a tough week for the NFC North. Chicago was the only team to win, pulling out a 23-20 victory in overtime over the Ravens to climb back into a tie with the Lions. The game took more than five hours to complete after being suspended in the first quarter due to severe weather in Chicago. 

After winning four straight games to lead the division at 5-2, the Packers have lost three straight games. The losing streak just happens to correlate with the loss of Aaron Rodgers to a broken collarbone. The Packers also lost their backup, Seneca Wallace, to injury and are now down to their third-string quarterback.

Now they know what it's like to be the Minnesota Vikings, with an incapable quarterback leading their team. The difference is that Green Bay has some hope with the fact that Rodgers will make a return this season, and the Vikings need to wait until next season.    

Team	Wins	Losses	Week 12 Opponent
Chicago Bears	6	4	at St. Louis
Detroit Lions	6	4	vs. Tampa Bay
Green Bay Packers	5	5	vs. Minnesota
Minnesota Vikings	2	8	at Green Bay

  

Injury Report

The Vikings returned starters Chris Cook and Jamarca Sanford on defense and Phil Loadholt on offense against the Seahawks.

They lost wide receiver Greg Jennings before the game even started, and then cornerback Josh Robinson to a fractured sternum and center John Sullivan to a concussion during the game.

The Vikings have been hit by the injury bug repeatedly this season, but it does not provide any excuses for the poor season the team is having. The backups have been just as good as the players they replace, except in the case of safety Harrison Smith.

Here's a look at the Vikings' injury report. 

Player	Position	Injury	Status
Greg Childs	WR	knees	PUP List	missed the entire season
Harrison Smith	S	foot	IR	started five games
Desmond Bishop	LB	knee	IR	played in five games
Zach Line	FB	knee	IR	played three games
Kyle Rudolph	TE	foot	out	missed last two games
Matt Asiata	RB	shoulder	out	active for six games
Letroy Guion	NT	knee	out	missed last two games
Greg Jennings	WR	Achilles	out	missed Seattle game
Josh Robinson	CB	sternum	out	injured in Seattle game
John Sullivan	C	concussion	TBD	injured in Seattle game

What Must Improve: Turnovers

As noted above, the Vikings defense has been directly responsible for half of the team's losses. In three of these games they have surrendered the winning points on their opponents' last drive of the game.

In the other losses, the offense turned over ball a total of 13 times—a deficit of minus-10. For the season, the Vikings are a minus-eight in turnovers, ranking them 28th in the NFL. 

In the first four games of the season, including their win over the Steelers, the Vikings defense came up with 12 turnovers—an average of three per game. Over the last six games, the Vikings have only two interceptions. 

Perhaps the Vikings will be able to reverse their fortunes against Scott Tolzien, who has five interceptions in two games for the Packers.

In fact, Tolzien more resembles a quarterback who plays in purple than one in green and gold.

Quarterback	Games	TD	Int	Rating
Aaron Rodgers	8	15	4	108.0
Scott Tolzien	2	1	5	68.2
Christian Ponder	7	6	9	74.9
Matt Cassel	4	4	3	86.1
Josh Freeman	4	2	4	52.6

In order for the Vikings to win more games and wreck their chances of a high draft pick, they really need to do a better job of protecting the football on offense and start taking it away on defense.