This game is more dangerous than many believe. Minnesota has a propensity to play well against teams that the majority pick to win. That’s why Baltimore fans shouldn’t underestimate these Vikings.
WHAT: Week Nine, Game Eight vs. Minnesota Vikings
WHEN: 1 p.m. (ET); Sunday, November 7
WHERE: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore (70,745)
RECORDS: Vikings, 3-4; Ravens, 5-2
LIFETIME SERIES (regular season): Tied, 3-3. The Vikings are one of two teams with which the Ravens are tied all-time, the other being Seattle (3-3). In Baltimore, the Ravens are 3-1 against Minnesota, with three consecutive victories since losing the teams’ debut Charm City matchup in 1998. Minnesota has won two of the last three overall meetings. The Vikings have won both preseason games between the teams, with the second one played in Baltimore in 2008.
BALTIMORE AREA TV/RADIO: WBFF-TV, Channel 45 (Adam Amin, Mark Schlereth, booth; Shannon Spake, sidelines), WIYY-FM, 97.9 (Gerry Sandusky, Obafemi Ayanbadejo, booth)
REFEREE: Carl Cheffers
About the Vikings
—Professional football in the Twin Cities began with the Minneapolis Marines of the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football League) in 1921. The team folded three years later but returned as the Red Jackets in 1929. Two years later, they were dissolved into a team that became the Frankford Yellow Jackets. In the fall of 1959, it appeared that a group of local businessmen would have a Minneapolis team in the upstart American Football League. Still, they sold their AFL interest to the group that gave birth to the Oakland Raiders. Instead, the local group started a Minnesota-based NFL expansion team in 1961, bringing the league’s total membership at the time to 14 teams.
—In 60 completed seasons, the Vikings have accumulated 30 playoff appearances, tied with the Rams franchise (Cleveland/St. Louis/Los Angeles) for the fourth-most in league history. They have won 20 division titles and ten wild-card berths, but only four of the division crowns have come since the NFC North was formed after the 2002 realignment (2008, 2009, 2015, 2017). Minnesota has only three wild-card berths under the current setup (2004, 2012, 2019).
—As of the end of the 2020 season, the Vikings’ all-time win percentage of .544 (485-414-11) ranks them seventh all-time in league history. But it is only third among the four NFC North Division franchises; Green Bay ranks first at .569, and Chicago is tied for third with the Baltimore Ravens, each possessing a .563 mark. In postseason history, the Vikings are 21-30 (.412), the fifth-worst mark all-time.
—Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, Minnesota has made nine appearances in the modern-day NFC Championship Game. The Vikings are tied with Green Bay for the conference’s fourth-most behind San Francisco (16), Dallas (14), and the Rams franchise (ten). Six of the Vikings’ nine conference title game appearances have been on the road, which is likely why the team won only three of them (the Vikings also won the pre-merger NFL title in 1969, conducted under a different playoff format).
—Minnesota was the first NFL franchise in the current era to appear in four Super Bowls. They were not consecutive appearances, as Buffalo would pull off two decades later. Still, nonetheless, the Vikings also lost all of them and haven’t appeared in the Super Bowl in the 44 completed seasons since. In Super Bowl 4, the last football game before the AFL-NFL merger, Minnesota fell to Kansas City, 23-7, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. Four years later, at Houston’s Rice Stadium, Miami blew out the Vikings, 24-7, in Super Bowl 8.
-=One year later, it was back to Tulane for Super Bowl 9 on a cold, rainy day on a newly-installed artificial turf field. But the Vikings lost again, 16-6, to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who won the first of their six titles that day. Finally, Super Bowl 11 at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl resulted in Oakland’s 32-14 loss. The common thread in all four games is that Minnesota was being shut out at halftime.
—When the Baltimore Colts were part of the NFL, they posted an 11-5-1 regular-season record against Minnesota before the franchise moved to Indianapolis after the 1983 season. In one stretch, the Colts won ten of 12 games against Minnesota during the Sixties with only a 1961 loss and a 1967 tie interrupting the streak.
-=The teams also met in a 1968 playoff game at Memorial Stadium, with the Colts taking a 24-14 win on a rainy, muddy field. They would win at Cleveland the following week on their way to Super Bowl 3. Before the Colts’ move, Minnesota won the last three meetings, all at home, by a combined score of 75-27. The teams also met in the 1982 Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, which the Vikings won in a meaningless preseason rout, 30-14.
—The Ravens and Vikings have met on just six regular-season occasions. Minnesota is tied with ten other NFC teams for the fewest meetings with Baltimore since the Ravens came into the league in 1996, but Sunday’s game will break that tie. Minnesota is one of three teams the Ravens have never beaten on the road in regular-season play, the others being Chicago and New England. However, according to the schedule rotation, the teams won’t meet in the Twin Cities until 2025 (unless the newly-established cross-conference placement game brings them together before then). The Ravens and Bears will meet at Soldier Field in just over two weeks, on November 21, and Baltimore will travel to New England next season.
—Even though the series has been infrequent, the Ravens-Vikings battles have had their share of notable moments. In a 2008 preseason game at Baltimore, Ravens quarterback Kyle Boller suffered an injured shoulder, leaving the door open for Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith to start the next game at St. Louis. When a lung-based blood clot sidelined Smith, third-string rookie Joe Flacco took the reins and didn’t let go for a decade.
—More memories: on a rainy Sunday in Baltimore in 1998, the Ravens and Vikings combined for three kick-return touchdowns, all in the first quarter, in a Minnesota win. A bitter-cold Monday-night game in January 2002 resulted in a 19-3 Baltimore home win in a game that was to have been played in Week Two but postponed to January to close the regular season due to the 9/11 terrorist attack. Vikings head coach Mike Tice had been fired days before the game, denying the former Maryland tight end the chance to coach a game in Baltimore.
—Perhaps the most infamous Vikings-Ravens meeting took place on Minnesota’s last trip to Baltimore. On December 8, 2013, a daylong storm resulted in the only actual ‘snow game’ in Ravens history, home or away, with falling and accumulating snow. Six fourth-quarter lead changes, including five in the final 2:10 of the game, only added to the drama before Joe Flacco found rookie wideout Marlon Brown in the back of the west (Russell Street) end zone from nine yards out with four seconds left to give Baltimore a pulsating 29-26 win.
—Sunday’s game marks the Ravens’ return from their bye week. Baltimore has won four of its last five post-bye games and is 17-8 lifetime after the off-week, the second-best mark in the AFC behind Buffalo (23-9). For the Vikings’ part, the team has already had its bye week, taking it on October 24 after getting off to a 3-3 start. Last week, Minnesota ran its lifetime post-bye record to a still-respectable 20-13 with a 20-16 home loss against Dallas. The game in Baltimore marks the start of five Vikings road games in seven weeks, a grueling run that begins this week and includes trips to Los Angeles (Chargers) and San Francisco.
—The Vikings have won two of their last three games, but the majority of their 2021 contests have been close. Their four losses have come by a total of 15 points, including last week’s four-point home defeat to Dallas. This year, Minnesota is 1-2 on the road; its most recent away game had to go to overtime before the Vikings pulled out a 34-28 win at Carolina. Minnesota has a rather ordinary possession time average (30:31), but in last week’s game against Dallas, nine of its 12 possessions lasted five plays or less. A very telling stat: the Vikings are 0-3 against teams with winning records.
—Despite the presence of standout running back Dalvin Cook, the Vikings are not that balanced on offense, having run the ball 194 times and passed it 286 (including ten sacks allowed). Minnesota’s opponents are just as pass-oriented, having run the ball on 184 plays and passed it on 269 (including 24 sacks allowed). The Vikings have only scored six more points than their opponents, and the only quarter in which they hold a significant edge is the first (44-27).
—Through seven games, the Vikings currently boast a plus-4 turnover ratio, tied for the sixth-best in the league with Las Vegas, Seattle, and Tampa Bay. The Vikings’ five turnovers are tied with Las Vegas and Buffalo for the league’s second-fewest behind Seattle’s four. Minnesota has only thrown two interceptions on offense and lost three fumbles, even though the Vikings have put the ball on the ground ten times. On defense, Minnesota’s nine takeaways (four fumble recoveries, five interceptions) have been recorded by eight different players.
—Minnesota has been penalized 51 times, towards the middle of the league’s 32-team pack. The total is nine behind league leader Philadelphia, but 11 more than Baltimore has committed (40). The Vikings have been flagged for a staggering 14 offensive holding penalties, the most by any NFC team and just one behind NFL leader Houston. Minnesota has also been called for ten false starts, one of ten teams that have been called for ten or more. Minnesota’s seven defensive holding calls are the NFL’s most. Defensive end Everson Griffen has roughed the passer twice, and guard Olisaemeka Udoh has been caught holding four times, which make up most of his team-high six penalties.
The Vikings currently rank seventh in total offense (tenth rushing, eighth passing, 18th scoring at 23.3 points per game). Minnesota has the league’s 11th-ranked red-zone offense, but it has trouble driving that far because the team’s third-down rate is the league’s ninth-worst. Minnesota ranks 20th overall (21st vs. rush, 18th vs. pass, 12th scoring, allowing 22.4 points per game). Minnesota is allowing third-down conversions at a stingy 32.5 percent rate, tied for the league’s fifth-best, but the team’s red-zone defense allows touchdowns at a pace that is the league’s eighth-worst.
Veteran NFL assistant coach Mike Zimmer, who has also worked on coaching staff in Cincinnati and Dallas, has been the Vikings’ head coach since 2014 when he replaced Leslie Frazier, a former Ravens assistant. Zimmer is the ninth different individual to coach the Vikings and the tenth in the team’s history; the legendary Bud Grant had two stints in the job. Zimmer is 1-0 against the Ravens, having won a home game against them in 2017.
—Including the postseason, Zimmer is 69-54-1 at the Minnesota helm, and he has been a part of 14 playoff teams in his 28-year NFL coaching career. Under Zimmer, 13 defensive players have accumulated 31 Pro Bowl berths. He was the defensive backs coach for the Dallas team that won Super Bowl 30 over Pittsburgh; cornerback Larry Brown was the Most Valuable Player of that game for his two late interceptions.
—There are notable assistants on Zimmer’s staff with Baltimore-area ties. They include assistant defensive backs/safeties coach Roy Anderson (Baltimore staff, 2009-11), offensive line coach and run game coordinator Rick Dennison (Baltimore, 2014), senior defensive assistant Paul Guenther (Western Maryland College, now McDaniel, 1994-95), tight ends coach Brian Pariani (Baltimore, 2014), wideout coach and ex-Jacksonville standout Keenan McCardell (Maryland, 2014-16), and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, son of ex-Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak.
–-Ten-year NFL veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins was an afterthought in the 2012 draft, taken 102nd overall in the fourth round by Washington, which had selected the more prominent Robert Griffin III in Round One. But Cousins, a Michigan State product, has outlasted Griffin in the league, with two Pro Bowls, six Player of the Week awards, and three monthly honors as well. Six of his seasons have ended with a top ten passer rating, and he has missed only one game since the start of the 2015 season. He has an active streak of five straight road games with two scoring tosses, no interceptions, and a passer rating of over 100. –Cousins is in his fourth season with Minnesota after six in Washington and is completing 69 percent of his passes with 14 touchdowns, only two interceptions, ten sacks, and a 103.3 passer rating. He has the NFL’s fewest interceptions among passers with over 200 attempts. Against the Ravens, he has started two games (both wins), completing 72 percent of his passes with two touchdowns, one interception, one sack, and a 95.7 rating. Cousins is backed up by Sean Mannion, a seven-year veteran from Oregon State.
—On the ground, Minnesota is paced by one of the NFL’s best dual threats, former Florida State standout Dalvin Cook, a 2017 second-round pick (41st overall) who has made the last two Pro Bowls. Cook, who has never faced the Ravens, signed a lucrative extension with the Vikings a year ago and has tried to live up to it despite hamstring and knee injuries early in his career. Cook has 444 rushing yards, a 4.5-yard average, and the team’s only two rushing touchdowns, a total that ranks last in the league. He also has a dozen catches for a six-yard average. Since the start of the 2019 season, Cook is one of two backs leaguewide to have accumulated 4000 scrimmage yards; Derrick Henry is the other. The change-of-pace back is Alex Mattison, who has 273 rushing yards. Mattison is a third-year player from Boise State and a 2019 fourth-round pick (102nd overall).
—Wide receivers Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson make up one of the NFL’s best downfield tandems. Thielen has 43 catches (the team’s second-most), a team-high six scores, and an 11-yard average. A native Minnesotan who attended Minnesota State, Thielen participated in two regional combines to get invited to the Vikings’ rookie camp, where he stuck. Jefferson, a first-round pick from LSU last year (22nd overall), had a much more high-profile background as part of that school’s national championship team in 2019, along with Baltimore linebacker Patrick Queen. Jefferson, who has never faced the Ravens, made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and currently leads the Vikings with 43 catches, a 13-yard average, and three scores. Jefferson has five or more catches in nine of his last ten games.
—Tight ends Tyler Conklin and Chris Herndon have one touchdown catch each as the Vikings adjust to life at that spot without standout Kyle Rudolph, who moved on to the New York Giants. Both tight ends have one touchdown, but Conklin has 27 receptions, fourth-most on the team, and an 11-yard average.
—The Minnesota offensive line looks to be the reverse of the Ravens’ unit in that it is has done well in pass protection (only ten sacks allowed) but has not sprung the running game loose. It is a penalty-prone bunch, but it is a reliable quintet, led by rookie left tackle Christian Darrisaw (Virginia Tech), taken with the 23rd overall pick after the Vikings traded back nine spots with the New York Jets. At the other tackle is Brian O’Neill, a 2018 fourth-rounder (Pittsburgh), who took the starting job five games into his rookie year and has remained there since.
—The interior of the line is also made up of familiar faces to Minnesota fans, including second-year guard Ezra Cleveland, who played nine games at right guard last year before moving to the left side in 2021. Right guard Olisaemeka Udoh, from tiny Elon College in the FCS, leads the team in penalties, but he was a sixth-round pick (193rd overall) in 2019 and impressed the coaching staff quickly. Center Garrett Bradbury is in his third year from North Carolina State and will be giving away at least 40 pounds to Ravens nose guard Brandon Williams, the kind of bigger, more mobile opponent that gives him trouble.
Although the Vikings have one of the league’s best pass rushes (24 sacks, second-most in the league, from 12 different players), injuries have compromised the defensive front. Team sack leader Danielle Hunter (six sacks, ten quarterback hits) is out for the year with a torn chest muscle, and the nose tackle, former Raven standout Michael Pierce (elbow), who has two sacks, has missed the last two games. Seasoned veteran Dalvin Tomlinson has moved over to Pierce’s spot, while former New York Jet and Cleveland starter Sheldon Richardson has subbed in next to Tomlinson.
—The healthy defensive-line stalwart has been three-time Pro Bowl pick Everson Griffen, a 12th-year veteran from Southern California. He has 85 career sacks (five sacks, nine quarterback hits this year) and spent the first ten years of his career in Minnesota before splitting 2020 between Detroit and Dallas. In his last game against the Ravens, Griffen had two sacks and a forced fumble.
—The Vikings’ linebacking corps uniquely features a pair of former collegiate roommates, middle linebacker Eric Kendricks and strong-side man Anthony Barr, who both played at UCLA. Kendricks, a 2015 second-round pick (45th overall), is Minnesota’s leading tackler this year with 66 stops and three sacks. He made the 2019 Pro Bowl and was the highest-graded linebacker in the league that season. Barr was the ninth overall pick in 2014 and has made four Pro Bowls but missed most of last season with an injury. Weak-side starter Nick Vigil is a former Cincinnati Bengal who was famously faked out by Lamar Jackson’s spin move two years ago; he is fourth on the team with 39 tackles.
—Minnesota has one of the league’s better safety tandems in Harrison Smith and Xavier Woods, a big part of a pass defense that has allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 61 percent of their passes, the fifth-best figure in the league. Smith is a tenth-year strong safety from Notre Dame, drafted 29th in the first round of the 2012 draft, and made five Pro Bowls while ranking third in tackles in franchise history among defensive backs. Harrison has 58 tackles (third on the team) with a sack and three pass breakups; he has had eight or more tackles in six straight games. Woods is a free-agent pickup from Dallas who is third on the team with 43 tackles; he also has a sack, five pass breakups, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles.
—Even without 11-year veteran Patrick Peterson, who came to the team after ten years in Arizona (he is out with a hamstring injury), the Vikings have a sound cornerback rotation. It includes veterans Mackensie Alexander, Bashaud Breeland, and Cameron Dantzler. Alexander, a 2016 second-round pick (54th overall), who defected to Cincinnati for a year before returning, has 18 tackles but three pass breakups. Breeland, a part of Kansas City’s Super Bowl 54-winning team who has also played in Washington and Green Bay, is sixth with 31 tackles and an interception. Dantzler is in his second year from Mississippi State; he was a 2020 third-round pick (89th overall) with 15 tackles and four breakups.
—The Vikings’ punter should be familiar to Baltimore fans. He’s seven-year NFL veteran Jordan Berry, who spent his first six NFL seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and ranks as that franchise’s all-time leader in coffin-corner punts. This year, he is gross-averaging 46.9 yards per punt and netting 42.1. He has ten coffin-corner kicks in 34 punts with no touchbacks with one punt blocked.
–Minnesota employs the well-traveled Greg Joseph as its placekicker. Joseph is now on his third team after short stints with Cleveland and Tennessee in his fourth year in the NFL, and he did not play in the league in 2020. Joseph has missed five extra points in his career, including one this season, and is 16-for-20 on field goals with Minnesota. The Vikings are not afraid to let him try long kicks; he has attempted six field goals from 50 yards and farther, making five of them.
—Minnesota’s return game has been slowed due to an ankle injury that left the main specialist Dede Westbrook, a fifth-year player from Oklahoma, inactive last week. In his place comes 2020 fifth-round pick KJ Osborn (176th overall), who ran back one punt for seven yards last week while recording two fair catches. Westbrook had only been averaging 4.3 yards per punt return. On kickoffs, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, a rookie from Iowa, has recently assumed the job and has run back four kicks for a 20.8-yard average. The coverage teams have done well, allowing 6.3 yards per punt return and 19.9 per kick runback.
Prediction
The Ravens know what they need to do. They must tackle better, run the ball more consistently (with players not named Lamar Jackson), and cover a talented Vikings receiving corps. If they can do that–and with their overall talent edge–Baltimore will eke out a win. That said, this game is more dangerous than many believe. How so? Minnesota has a propensity to play well against teams that the majority pick to win. That’s why Baltimore fans shouldn’t underestimate the visiting Vikings.
Baltimore 31, Minnesota 27
