**Chasing evasive takeaways | by Rob Kleifield**
This time a year ago, the Vikings defense was _the_ litmus test for offenses, forcing on average 2.6 turnovers through five games. They were opportunistic, cashing in a couple picks (h/t Andrew Van Ginkel), and pests in the secondary, with multiple INTs of C.J. Stroud, Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers.
The only quarterback Minnesota's defense has intercepted five games into 2025 is Jake Browning.
Worse yet, excluding the Week 3 rout of Cincinnati, in which Isaiah Rodgers made two house calls and forced two fumbles, and Joshua Metellus added an interception to a frenzied scene of five takeaways, the Vikings defense has forced a fumble after a catch by Falcons WR Drake London, and recovered one via a last-ditch lateral on the final play of the game at Chicago. In other words, Minnesota's defense has stolen the ball twice in its _four other games_. Overall, the Vikings are averaging 1.4 takeaways per outing.
But only 0.5 sans the flash-in-the-pan performance against the Bengals.
Minnesota's seven takeaways over its first five games matched 2022 for the fewest in that span of O'Connell's tenure. More notable than the absent football magnetism is the team's losing turnover margin (minus-2); the Vikings comeback in London was O'Connell's fifth career win in which Minnesota had more turnovers than takeaways.
(O'Connell is 18-2 when his team protects the football better than opponents protect against turnovers.)
With that in mind, there's a key factor working to Minnesota's disadvantage. Opposing quarterbacks, save for a few longer-developing plays, are releasing the ball at a quick index, which is hurting Minnesota's sack numbers and takeaway opps, since pressure is a defensive back's best friend. Right now, opponents are taking extreme caution and getting rid of the rock before the pass rush gets home.
Aaron Rodgers is the premier example, averaging an NFL season-best 2.17 seconds from snap to pass, per Next Gen Stats, when Pittsburgh outlasted Minnesota. Browns rookie Dillon Gabriel was fast with it too (2.54 avg.).