Have Minnesota Vikings finally hit their offensive stride?

After a very sluggish start this season, the offense of the Minnesota Vikings is suddenly looking very balanced and extremely dangerous.

Four games into the season, Mike Zimmer’s Minnesota Vikings were already in the midst of developing a nasty habit. The team posted impressive home wins over the Atlanta Falcons and Oakland Raiders but the club fell flat on the road vs. the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears.

That was certainly understandable given the caliber those latter two teams and their defenses. And it’s safe to say that both Lambeau Field and Soldier Field are difficult places for visiting teams to come up with victories.

In the wins over the Falcons and Raiders, the Vikings totaled 28 and 34 points, respectively. In their two losses to Green Bay and Chicago, Zimmer’s squad totaled a combined 22 points. And much-maligned quarterback Kirk Cousins was certainly hearing it early on for his overall play in those first four outings.

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There were a combined three touchdown passes and four turnovers, the latter equally split between interceptions (2) and lost fumbles (2). In fact, Cousins fumbled a total of six times in those four contests.

But was it due to the team’s lack of confidence in the veteran quarterback? In Week 1, he attempted 10 passes and completed eight for 80 yards and one score. He did run for a touchdown but he seemed like an afterthought.

One Sunday later, Cousins, hit on less than half of his 32 throws, albeit his 14 completions added up to 230 yards and two scores in the loss to the Packers. But for the second straight game, he produced a pair of fumbles (1 lost). And he would serve up two interceptions. Meanwhile, the Minnesota offense was really running through Dalvin Cook, who got off to a sensational start this season and after seven weeks, leads the NFL with 725 rushing yards.

Now suddenly, the Vikings are an explosive and balanced attack with a potent running game and the light turning on for Cousins. In his last three games, victories over the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions, he has completed a blistering 75.6 percent of his passes (68-of-90) for 977 yards, 10 scores and just one interception.

After being sacked six times in the 16-6 loss to the Bears in Week 4, Cousins has been dropped only four times in the last three games. There’s been one fumble — zero the last two weeks — and that miscue didn’t result in a turnover. And he’s starting to find wideouts Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen with more regularity after a shaky start.

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The Minnesota Vikings have scored a combined 108 points during their current three-game winning streak and will host the struggling Washington Redskins on Thursday night. It’s safe to say the team’s erratic performance on offense in 2018 was a big factor in the team finishing 8-7-1 and missing the playoffs. So is this team finally on the same page on this side of the ball?

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