Vikings’ late-half defense ready to set a record

But certainly not in a good way

We’re all well aware of the struggles that the Minnesota Vikings have had on defense when it comes to the last two minutes of a half this season. But this defense isn’t just bad in that regard. . .they’re on pace to be historically bad.

According to Courtney Cronin of ESPN, the Vikings have allowed 101 points in the last two minutes of any half this season. Given that the Vikings have allowed 305 points in their first 12 games, that means that a full one-third of the points that this defense has allowed this season have come in the final two minutes of a half.

In the last 20 years, the most points that any defense has given up in those situations in a season is 107. The Vikings, given current trends, will probably (at least) tie that mark at the end of the first half of Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at U.S. Bank Stadium. And, just to show that this isn’t as recent a development as some might think, that 107-point record that Cronin referenced was set by last year’s Vikings, who also had trouble stopping teams at the end of a half.

While the mark itself is troubling enough, what might be even more troubling is that nothing is being done to do anything about it. Teams simply continue to march down the field with just about no resistance when the clock hits two minutes to go and no adjustments are made to even slow opposing teams down.

It certainly looks like the 2021 Vikings’ defense is going to set a new low as far as ineptitude at the end of a half or game over the course of the remaining five weeks of this season. I guess all we can do is cross our fingers and hope that they don’t shatter the record by too much.