Analysis: ‘Watermelon’ ball gives Vikings’ Matt Daniels a teaching tool to put the boring back in NFL kickoffzzz

The Vikings blocked a field-goal attempt and recovered a muffed punt to set up a 15-yard touchdown drive in Sunday’s overtime win at Chicago. So, naturally, special teams coordinator Matt Daniels spent most of his 18 minutes with reporters on Tuesday discussing the two major kicking gaffes that turned an 11-point lead into a tie ballgame in the final 1:56 of regulation.

Forgive us our sins and journalistic curiosity, Vikings Nation, as some of us ignored the good and went straight to the ugly in our need to know how in the heck the Vikings inadvertently injected so much unnecessary excitement into an otherwise lifeless aspect — kickoffzzz — of today’s NFL.

“Obviously, things probably could have been a lot smoother,” Daniels said.

Amen to that.

NFL teams have kicked off 1,841 times this season. Opponents have returned 574. That’s a return rate of 31.2%, which still seems boring unless you’re buying the NFL’s new and shamelessly self-slugged “Dynamic Kickoff” rules and how they’ve boosted, so far at least, last year’s record-low 22.1% return rate.

The Vikings haven’t bought the notion that more returns are a good thing. That’s why their touchback rate is 85.71%. Only the Rams’ rate (88.89%) is higher.

That brings us to Kicking Gaffe No. 1.

Vikings interim kicker Parker Romo, who should be hailed for winning the game with a walkoff 29-yarder, also helped nearly lose the game when he botched the kickoff that became only the eighth one to be returned against the Vikings all season.

“The intent was to hit it out,” Daniels said of a kick that was fielded at the 5. “Going into that direction, the balls were hanging up a little more [in the wind]. And Park kind of toed it, too.”

Bears returner DeAndre Carter cut left at the 16 as three blockers began to work a successful combo scheme on Ty Chandler and Josh Metellus. Terrell Smith and Daniel Hardy double-teamed Chandler, driving him outside as Metellus widened the hole by choosing an inside gap rather than resisting Tarvarius Moore’s block while waiting to see Carter’s next move.

“You would love for 44 [Metellus’ number] to club and go back outside rather than picking a side,” Daniels said. “Play a bit more of a two-gap, gap-and-a-half type of defense there.”

Carter made three more nice cuts. C.J. Ham came from the far right but missed a tackle at the 35. Theo Jackson and Romo ran into each other trying to make the tackle at the 40. Carter had an open field past midfield but was caught by Dallas Turner at the 40.

The 55-yard return was longer than 20 teams have posted this season. Eight plays later, the Bears trailed 27-24 with 22 seconds left.

On to Kicking Gaffe No. 2.

Teams have attempted only 37 onside kicks because the new rules say they can’t try them unless they (A) are trailing in the fourth quarter and (B) have declared to the world that one is coming. Real exciting, eh?

There have been only three successful ones, including the one the Bears recovered when the ball ricocheted off Johnny Mundt’s leg.

Daniels tipped his cap to the “watermelon” kick that Cairo Santos executed. It’s called watermelon essentially because that’s what the ball looks like when a kicker strikes it perfectly and it slowly spins on the ground, appearing as if it will stop inside the 10-yard zone that’s off limits to the kicking team but often crossing the 10-yard mark if the return team allows it.

Daniels was with the Rams in 2018-19 when punter Johnny Hekker tinkered with the idea. Daniels was in Dallas when the Cowboys got the Falcons’ return team to hesitate, waiting for the watermelon ball to stop inside the 10-yard zone, which it didn’t.

“We ran across and boxed out the entire kickoff return team,” Daniels said. “As soon as it crossed 10 yards, we recovered.”

Knowing that, Daniels has one rule when it comes to onside kicks.

“When we see the kicker put down a watermelon ball, we’re all ‘ball’ guys,” he said. “Just go recover the ball because the kickoff team can’t touch us inside the 10-yard area.”

Mundt didn’t follow Rule No. 1. He was blocking, head down, 8 yards from where the ball was kicked.

“Johnny’s just got to have some awareness there,” Daniels said. “At the end of the day, I got to reiterate to those guys that whenever we get those types of watermelon balls, we are in full-on go-and-get-it mode.”

Ultimately and more important, at the end of Week 12, the Vikings got all of the below: a fourth consecutive win, some real-time teaching tools to put the boring back into NFL kickoffzzz, and a nearly 18-minute deep dive into something called the “watermelon” ball.