Analysis: Why the Vikings’ 12-2 record means more to running back Cam Akers

Being 12-2 means a lot to everyone. It means more to Cam Akers.

“Yeah,” said the Vikings running back, “I would say that’s safe to say.”

Akers paused, shook his head, and smiled the way you guess you would if you played your sport’s most physically demanding position, had torn both of your Achilles tendons by your 25th birthday and now had a key role as Aaron Jones’ backup on a team that’s playoff-bound and fighting for the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

“I love my role because I got a role,” Akers said. “That’s something to be grateful for. Where I’ve been, it’s a blessing.”

Word to the wise: Don’t tell Akers what running backs — or humans in general — can and can’t do or even what the odds say they may or may not be able to do.

“Life’s all smoke and mirrors, man,” Akers said.

Do explain, Cam.

“It’s people saying whatever they say you can or can’t do,” Akers said.

That’s the smoke and mirrors part. The reality, more often than not, lies within, Akers went on to say.

“It’s all on you and whether you believe you can do something or you don’t believe you can do something,” he said. “That’s anything in life. I never once believed a running back couldn’t come back from this injury once. Or twice. Or that my shelf life is 30. Forget what you say I can do. It’s what I believe I can make happen.”

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Exhibit 1A in Mr. Akers’ argument:

July 20, 2021. He is 22. Heading into his second year with the Rams, who drafted him in the second round out of Florida State the year before. He tore his right Achilles working out right before training camp started.

People said his season was done. People said it took nine months to a year to come back. People were wrong. Akers made it back in a record 5½ months. He got eight touches in the regular-season finale and 75 more during a four-game run that saw the Rams win the Super Bowl as offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell was landing the Vikings’ head coaching job.

“Not many running backs come back from this,” Akers said. “And I was the fastest out of anyone who’s ever come back from an Achilles.”

At any position.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, here is Exhibit 1B in Mr. Akers’ power-of-the-mind argument:

Nov. 5, 2023. He is 24. In the seventh game of his first stint with the Vikings. He tore his left Achilles in a win over the Falcons in Atlanta.

“That wasn’t a fun night,” Akers said. “That was a little harder one all around mentally.”

How could it not be?

“I feel like after two of those, a lot of guys would call it a career, call it quits,” Jones said. “Cam just put his head down, grinded every day to get where he wanted to be. And he’s here.”

Akers signed first with the Texans. He scored a touchdown in the preseason-opening Hall of Fame game. Scored another one against the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 3.

“I remembered who I am and I’ve been good, healthy, since the start of camp,” Akers says. “My confidence stayed high.”

How?

“I believe in God, which, first and foremost is the reason I didn’t lose confidence,” Akers said. “Then having my family, a support system to uplift me when I fail to do so by myself.”

O’Connell was sold. Again. So, for the second time in two years, the Vikings traded for the same underdog who won’t stop scratching at the NFL’s door. In both trades, Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah sent a conditional sixth-round pick in 2026 and received Akers and a conditional seventh-round pick in 2026.

“People say I might be the only guy ever traded to the same team twice in two years,” Akers said. “It just goes to show K.O., Kwesi, everybody, what they think of me by giving me the opportunity to come here and contribute twice.”

The Vikings were looking for more efficiency behind Jones when they traded for Akers this year. Nine games have passed as Akers has supplanted Ty Chandler as the primary backup. Since Akers arrived, he has played 136 offensive snaps to Chandler’s 19.

Both players now have 51 carries on the season as Vikings. Akers has 211 yards (4.1), a touchdown and a 49% success rate, which is gaining at least 40% of the yards needed on first down, 60% on second down and 100% on third and fourth down. Chandler has 175 yards (3.4), no touchdowns and a 37.3% success rate.

Akers also has a receiving touchdown and stronger skills as a pass protector. What he doesn’t have is any memory of ever saying to himself that his playing days just might be over.

“Nah,” Akers says. “No way. Never. Not once.”

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