Scoggins: Vikings are undefeated but say they still haven’t played their ‘best ball’

LONDON – Football coaches love to preach the importance of playing complementary football. The Vikings played complimentary football on Sunday.

It went something like this …

Thank you, Brian Flores.

Thank you, Andrew Van Ginkel.

Thank you, Stephon Gilmore.

And thank you to every player on the defensive side of the ball.

“We needed them today,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It was not good enough to our standard on offense.”

As the saying goes, better to learn lessons in a win than a loss.

That should be the primary takeaway from a 23-17 win over the New York Jets that was equal parts dominating and error-filled but ultimately kept the Vikings’ record unblemished.

They are undefeated at 5-0 but far from perfect.

“We’ve got so much more to go with this team,” linebacker Jonathan Greenard. “And we still haven’t played our best ball, which is crazy to say, obviously. We’re putting something together really, really good, and we’re only getting our foot barely in the water.”

Football teams are divided into three phases. On a cool, misty Sunday, two of the Vikings phases took turns compounding mistakes, thus requiring the defense to bail them out over and over.

Good teams know how to pick each other up. The Vikings have provided back-to-back case studies.

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a long way from Lambeau Field, but the Vikings gleaned valuable intel about themselves in both locales.

Last week, the offense delivered a gut-check drive to get points when the defense turned leaky.

Sunday, nearly 4,000 miles away, the defense reciprocated the helping hand.

“We’ve got an unselfish team,” said Gilmore, whose interception in the final minute sealed the outcome. “We all play for each other. Sometimes games go like this.”

The blueprint is one the Vikings would rather not repeat. The offense lost its equilibrium once running back Aaron Jones left the game with a hip injury in the first half.

The running game disappeared. The offensive line had trouble protecting Sam Darnold, who lost his magical touch and misfired repeatedly. O’Connell kept calling deep passes down the field, despite ample evidence that an aggressive plan was not working. It was just a bad day for the offense all around.

Special teams highlights were limited to Will Reichard’s kicking. The rest was a mess.

The defense stood up and threw out a safety net.

“It’s why you win games sometimes when you might not have your fastball offensively,” O’Connell said. “We try not to let the frustration overflow to any other phase of our team.”

Flores’ defense ignites frustration in opponents. Speaking of Aaron Rodgers, if this was his final game against the Vikings, the parting gift was less enjoyable than a rocking chair.

The Vikings intercepted Rodgers three times, twice in the first quarter, including Van Ginkel’s second pick-six of the season.

The defense added three sacks, 11 quarterback hits and a fourth-down stop.

Rodgers’ body language reflected the duress he felt all game.

“We’ve got enough guys that somebody is going to make the play somewhere,” veteran safety Harrison Smith said.

Van Ginkel raised his hand first. He fooled Rodgers by showing blitz, then dropping into coverage and grabbing a quick throw over the middle for an interception.

Van Ginkel stiff-armed a defender and tight-roped the sideline to the end zone.

“He’s The Gink,” Smith said.

Rodgers shared a word with The Gink later in the game.

“He told me Christmas came early for me,” Van Ginkel said.

The Gink’s response?

“Thank you,” he said. “Didn’t say a whole lot. Kind of just walked away.”

Smith got his moment on Rodgers, too. Facing Rodgers for the 21st time in his career, Smith sacked Rodgers from the blindside, then performed Rodgers’ signature belt celebration.

“It was spur of the moment,” he said of his celebration.

Smith had two cuts on his face afterward. One across his nose happened last week when Packers running Josh Jacobs’ cleat somehow cut him through his facemask.

Smith got a new gash on his forehead while blocking for Van Ginkel on his interception return. Smith figures his own helmet caused it.

“We’ll have to address this issue,” he said, laughing.

He’s not complaining. The Vikings are headed into their bye undefeated and confident that they are nowhere near their ceiling. Good teams find ways to win when they’re not at their best and then refuse to be satisfied by the final result. The Vikings are hitting both marks.