It wasn’t pretty, but the Minnesota Vikings salvaged their season by defeating the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
The Vikings held on to a 21-13 victory at Bank of America Stadium for their first win of the season and avoided a dreaded 0-4 start — a hole that only one team in NFL history has overcome.
The Vikings still have their work cut out for them. No Vikings team has ever made the postseason after an 0-3 start to the season. Many improvements are still needed for the 2023 Vikings to buck that trend.
Bleacher Report still believes in the Vikings and suggested the team sign veteran cornerback Bryce Callahan to improve the secondary immediately after a poor start to the season.
Part of the reason the Vikings have stumbled out of the gates this season is their secondary has been struggling. Heading into the weekend, they ranked tied for 25th in passing yards allowed per game, according to TeamRankings.com, and free-agent signing Byron Murphy hasn’t lived up to expectations.
While Callahan might not be the solution to all of Minnesota’s problems, he could at least provide some depth to the position group and give the Vikings a veteran option to turn to if things don’t start improving. He’s coming off a campaign in which he allowed just 370 passing yards in 15 games, per Pro Football Reference, so it couldn’t hurt to bring the veteran in.
Bryce Callahan Could Improve Slot Cornerback Position
Sure, the Vikings defense was deserving of Sunday’s win over the Panthers — tallying five sacks and a fumble return touchdown — but hanging its hat on beating rookie Bryce Young isn’t the strongest indication of a turnaround defensively. Young hadn’t thrown for more than 153 yards in his first two starts. He had 204 yards passing on Sunday.
The Vikings are banking on the development of a young cornerback core helmed by Byron Murphy Jr., Akayleb Evans and Mekhi Blackmon. All three cornerbacks are allowing over a 125.0 passer rating when targeted this season, according to Pro Football Focus.
More notably, safety Josh Metellus has taken the lion’s share of slot cornerback snaps and is allowing a 115.4 passer rating when targeted.
Callahan, 32, may not be on an NFL roster currently, but his veteran experience as a primary slot cornerback would be a valuable boon to the secondary. He’s averaged a 77.0 passer rating allowed in his career with 2,705 snaps played as the slot corner. Last season with the Los Angeles Chargers, Callahan allowed a 93.5 passer rating when targeted but was also a ballhawk, securing three interceptions and breaking up two passes.
The Vikings cannot keep dropping games for the sake of development while climbing out of a 0-3 start to the season. Callahan could be an ideal contributor in the slot to improve the defense immediately.
The Vikings at 1-3 so far this season will have an uphill battle the rest of the way.
Heavy’s projection engine, Quarter4, has the Vikings with just a 2.3% chance of winning the NFC North entering Week 5 — and the path to the playoffs will likely only come by way of a division crown.
However, Minnesota asserted that they intend to compete this season and will not hold a fire sale. The Athletic’s Diana Russini reported on Sunday, October 1, that Minnesota has no plans of trading Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson.
“Two team sources said the Vikings are not punting on the season and have no plans to trade Cousins, who would have to waive his no-trade clause to be moved,” Russini wrote. “In addition, those sources shot down trade rumors regarding star wide receiver Justin Jefferson.”
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