After going 1-5 in their first six games, it appeared the Minnesota Vikings were going to have a long season. However, last week, Minnesota went into Green Bay and defeated the Packers, and on Sunday, the Vikings(3-5) continued their strong play as they beat the Lions(3-5) at home 34-20.
Against the Packers, it was all about Dalvin Cook, who had four touchdowns against Green Bay, and on Sunday against Detroit, Cook continued his strong play as he ran for 206 yards and two more rushing touchdowns.
In the last two weeks, Cook has 369 yards rushing yards, a team-record through two games. Also, Cook is the third player in team history to rush for 200-plus yards in a game. The last Vikings RB to rush for over 200 yards is Adrian Peterson, who was on the opposite sideline with the Lions on Sunday.
As he did last week, Cook gave credit to his offensive line.
“You talk about confidence, and you talk about just building from last week like I said, them guys up-front, they are going to go home today with a lot of confidence that we can run the football,” Cook said. “That’s what it’s all about with me. giving those guys up front and my guys that are blocking for me a lot of confidence, and I think we got the confidence going into Monday Night Football.”
After their second straight victory, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer believes his team is gaining confidence.
“Well, when you’re sitting there at 1-5, everything is collapsing,” Zimmer said. “You’re getting ready to jump off the cliff. You beat Green Bay, and then you start to get a little juice. You beat Detroit, and now you start getting a little bit more juice. I think the confidence level helps. I think continuing to play well gives us confidence that we can do these things against good football teams. And Detroit’s a good team, they really are. Maybe they weren’t their best today, but It was a good win.”
According to Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, who threw for 220 yards and three touchdowns on Sunday, the next eight games will say a lot about Minnesota.
“Well, coming out of the bye at 1-5, my thought process was, ‘We have ten football games left, guaranteed to us.’ Those ten are probably going to tell the story more than the 1-5 start, so I’d say the same with eight left,” he said. “The second half is going to tell the story far more than the first half, so we need to have the best second half we possibly can, and that starts with a tough opponent in Chicago, on the road on Monday Night [Football].”
Minnesota is playing some good football right now, and if they continue to get big-time play out of Cook, maybe, just maybe the Vikings can turn this season around. We’ll see if the strong play continues against Chicago next Monday night.
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