Inside The Vikings

The Vikings Just Can't Stop Playing One-Score Games

That's now 13 one-score contests in 14 appearances this season for the Vikings.
Will Ragatz|
The Vikings Just Can't Stop Playing One-Score Games
The Vikings Just Can't Stop Playing One-Score Games

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Minnesota Vikings

If it feels like the Vikings play a stressful one-score game every weekend, well, that's because they pretty much do.

Back in 2021, during the final season of the Mike Zimmer era, the Vikings tied the all-time NFL record — also held by the 1994 Giants and 2015 Ravens — by appearing in 14 one-score games (defined as having a margin of eight points or fewer). They went 6-8 in those games and missed the playoffs.

Last season, Kevin O'Connell came in as head coach and the Vikings set an all-time record by going 11-0 in one-score games. It was a wild ride of a season that saw them win the NFC North and reach the postseason...only to lose a one-score game when it mattered most.

This year, the Vikings are looking poised to break the record they tied two seasons ago. After Saturday's three-point overtime loss against the Bengals, they've somehow had 13 of their 14 games thus far finish with a one-score margin. The only one that didn't was a 24-10 victory over the Packers in Week 8. With three games left (vs. Lions, vs. Packers, at Lions), two more one-score contests would leave the Vikings alone atop that leaderboard.

Since the start of the 2021 season, the Vikings have played 38 one-score games in the regular season (out of 48 total regular season games). The next-closest teams in that category are the Steelers and Falcons with 32 each. 26 teams have fewer than 30 — and the Cowboys and 49ers have just 18 and 17, respectively.

So yeah, the Vikings have basically been playing nothing but one-score games for the last three seasons. Talk about putting a fan base through the emotional wringer.

In related news, the next time the Vikings truly blow a team out will be the first time they've done so in a very long time. They haven't won a game by 17 points or more since December 2019 against the Chargers. Every other team in the NFL has won at least two games by 17-plus since the start of the 2020 season, including 19 or 20 instances each by the 49ers, Bills, and Cowboys.

Every time it looks like the Vikings might do it — like when they take a 17-3 lead against the Bengals — they prove unable to step on the gas and bury their opponent. That's something they have to figure out if they want to become a legitimate contender at some point.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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