Ben Leber’s Expectations For The Vikings Are Perfect
Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
Coming into the 2024 season, most experts had the Minnesota Vikings finishing dead last in the NFC North. 11 weeks later, the team is in the process of dropping a truckload of crow off at those experts’ dinner tables, just in time for Thanksgiving.
Minnesota’s surprising start has some followers of the team floating on cloud nine and with a “playing with house money” attitude. Still others, like former Vikings linebacker-turned-media-personality Ben Leber, are setting their sights higher.
“This is a long season and we all understand that, and I think emotions and expectations have a right to change,” Leber told KFAN’s Dan Barreiro. “And I was like everybody else when we started off hot in the first four games of the season. I thought, this is really fun for a team that we just didn’t know what we had. We didn’t know if all these new defensive pieces were going to fit together. We didn’t know if Sam Darnold was going to be… a better player or [if] he’s going to be what we thought he was going to be… So it was really fun to ride that roller coaster. We’re just free right now you know, no [big] expectations.”
Leber continued, “Well, guess what? I don’t have those expectations anymore. My expectations are much higher after watching our guys put together a string of games against really good competition and play you know, team defense, complimentary defense, play strong [for] four quarters, face adversity, and come back. Sorry people, my expectations have changed.
“This is not just a cute football team that just happens to win some games,” said Leber, throwing down the gauntlet. “This is a legitimate football team. And when that takes place, my expectations, as far as a former player and a fan, they’re much higher. I expect you to not play sloppy now.
“We cleaned it up from a penalty standpoint this last game, but I don’t want to give up ninety-eight-yard touchdown passes. I don’t want to give up fifty-one-yard potential touchdown passes. I don’t want to give up big explosive plays… in the second half that could potentially put you in a losing situation… I’m happy with the eight and two. But I still want to see more.”
Leber’s not crazy here. His point was further driven home by an ESPN article earlier this week that compared this Vikings team to the one that went 13-4 in 2022. The article noted the stark difference in one of football’s most important metrics: DVOA. After having “the worst DVOA for any team with 11 or more victories in the 45-year history of the metric” in 2022, this year’s squad is fourth in the NFL.
As for how to make good on those expectations, Leber believes the right sort of performances this week in Chicago would be a good start.
“I thought that we were going to have two games preceding this one where we come in and we don’t play down to our competition.” Leber continued. “I’m really hoping that we take this game against Chicago and beat up on them, and who cares if someone says ‘oh you beat up on the Bears.’ No, that’s what good teams do to bad teams. You beat up on them and you leave no doubt. I want this to be a no-doubt football game from start to finish. I don’t care if it’s boring from an analytics standpoint, and… you’re turning the TV off in the third quarter because it’s out of hand. But I just want that good feeling in our mouth that we can take a bad team step on them and grind him in the ground.”
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