Minnesota Vikings' Defense Leads Them to First Victory

The Vikings could be in all honesty be undefeated right now, but now they are only 1-4 after Sunday’s win against the Arizona Cardinals. The Vikings have some nice pieces on offense with Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin, but defense wins championships and that’s why the Vikings won on Sunday.

Sunday was the first time the Vikings didn't give up 22 points in a game and it resulted in a win. The secondary is definitely one of the weaker units on the Vikings, but they stepped up today. On a day where Antoine Winfield was inactive, Asher Allen picked off Kolb and Jamarca Sanford pulled down two interceptions.

The very bright spot for the Vikings, though, was the defensive ends, Jared Allen and Brian Robison. Both players were getting consistent pressure on Cardinal QB Kevin Kolb. They both had two sacks and four total tackles. Allen got an additional three hits on the quarterback, Robison had one and EJ Henderson hit him twice.

More bright spots for the Vikings defense were: Chad Greenway who had nine tackles, Asher Allen who had a pick and six tackles and EJ Henderson whom also had six tackles.

How did the Vikings score all their points? Adrian Peterson. Peterson went nuts in the first quarter, where he scored all three of his touchdowns. Peterson didn't score for the rest of the game, but he did rush for 122 yards on the day.

That’s the extent of the offensive highlights for the Vikings today. Donovan McNabb looked once again unimpressive; multiple times he missed wide open receivers and audible boos could be heard. McNabb threw for 169 yards on 10 completions in 21 attempts. McNabb ran the ball four times for four yards, including a rushing touchdown at the goal line.

Michael Jenkins had 32 yards on four grabs, Devin Aromashodu and Lorenzo Booker both had two catches with 81 and 25 yards receiving, respectively.

Ryan Longwell hit field goals from 26 and 53 yards out, but missed one from 43. Longwell put in all of his extra point attempts.

The Vikings finally won, but they had to rely heavily on a strong defensive game and an excellent first quarter by Adrian Peterson. Without Peterson’s three touchdowns, Sanford’s two picks, Robison’s two sacks and Jared Allen’s two sacks, we may have been talking about another disappointing Vikings loss.