Minnesota Vikings: 3 Players that must shine vs. Broncos in Week 11

1. Mike Hughes and the Vikings defense

For a majority of the year up to this point, the Vikings defense has been one of the more shutdown defensive groups in the entire league while being led by a defensive-minded head coach in Mike Zimmer.

Over the course of the past few weeks, though, Mike Hughes and the Minnesota defensive unit have struggled and have taken a step back from the dominance we saw out of them earlier in the year and for the last few seasons in Minneapolis.

In the Week 10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football last weekend, we saw some concerns within the Vikings defense that the Cowboys were able to expose, mainly attacking Hughes on the outside of the field and in the passing game.

For a majority of the game and especially in the second half, Dallas was able to operate freely within the passing attack and it seemed like whenever the Cowboys broke out for a big completion, Hughes was the defender in charge of the wide receiver that hauled in the catch and recorded the big play.

In the Week 9 defeat on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota allowed Kansas City to record nearly 300 yards through the air while allowing the Chiefs once again to break out for a few big plays throughout the course of the contest. In last weekend’s win in Dallas, the Cowboys were able to throw for nearly 400 yards through the air against the Vikings.

Minnesota has been dealing with some injuries on the defensive side of the ball, but even when the Vikings have been fully healthy, the passing defense and their inability to limit large chunks of yardage in the passing game has been an issue for the NFC North squad.

On Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis, the Vikings will need to clean that up when the Broncos come to town in Week 11.