Vikings have been ‘situational masters’ in three straight comeback wins

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell called cornerback Cameron Dantzler a “situational master” on Monday. That apparently is one of the better compliments he can give.

O’Connell talked after Sunday’s 29-22 victory over Chicago at U.S. Bank Stadium about how the Vikings (4-1) have “situational masters” meetings every week. The team goes over all sorts of scenarios that can come up in the NFL, many with the game on the line.

In the win over the Bears, with the Vikings leading 29-22 with just over a minute remaining, Dantzler snatched the ball out of the hands of wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette after a reception. Then, after running 16 yards with the fumble return, he fell down with 61 seconds left on the clock to make sure he didn’t fumble the ball back to Chicago.

Dantzler is one of a number of “situational masters” the Vikings have had late in games recently. They’ve won three straight games coming from behind in the fourth quarter; the previous two were 28-24 over Detroit on Sept. 25 and 28-25 over New Orleans on Oct. 2.

The term “situational masters” has cropped up in recent years thanks to Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay. He talked about it a lot before the Rams faced New England in Super Bowl LVIII in February 2019, and shortly before that game ESPN.com wrote that McVay has phrases written on the wall at the team practice facility, and one is “situational masters.”

Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor, previously an assistant under McVay, brought up the term on the Bengals’ run last season to the Super Bowl. And now O’Connell, who was the Rams’ offensive coordinator the past two seasons under McVay, is using it the phrase often with the Vikings.

“We definitely wish we weren’t getting so many reps at the situational masters side of things,” O’Connell said Monday, admitting his preference would be to put some of the recent foes away earlier in games. “But we put a huge emphasis on it from day one. Something we talk about every single week, different situations that not only come up for our football team but for everyone else around the league that can be real learning opportunities for our team just so when those moments come up there is very little thinking that goes into it and more reacting and playing.”

O’Connell gave credit Sunday to assistant head coach Mike Pettine and pass game specialist/game management coordinator Ryan Cordell for putting together “a great situational masters meeting every single week for our team.”

Cornerback Chandon Sullivan offered some insight Monday into the meetings.

“Everyone’s in the room,” Sullivan said. “It’s not like (O’Connell is) just talking to the defense or the offense. We’re all together, and we’re all watching the same clips just across the league. It may be a situation where it’s a last-play Hail Mary or a situation where a team needs to get down and spike the ball to kick a field goal. There’s so many scenarios that can win or lose you a game. … You don’t want to lose a game in those last seconds.”

And the Vikings haven’t this season even though they easily could have lost any of the past three games. They trailed the Lions by 10 points in the fourth quarter before eventually going ahead for good on a Kirk Cousins 28-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Osborn with 45 seconds left. And they trailed the Saints by three points with less than five minutes left, eventually breaking a tie on a 47-yard field goal by Greg Joseph with 24 seconds remaining.

Some other “situational master” scenarios Sullivan brought up included how to tackle someone late in the game to keep him in bounds if the Vikings want to keep the clock running and defensive scenarios when a team needs five yards to get in range for an important late-game field goal.

“It’s just the practice and the process we go through,” running back Alexander Mattison said of late-game scenarios. “It proves itself time and time again that attention to detail and making sure that we’re locked in in situational football, and that means situational masters. … It shows up every Sunday around the league, and for us (it’s good) to be able to be in a position where we’re situational masters and put ourselves in a position to go down there and win the game, and on defense them doing the same thing in locking up that thing.”

On Sunday, Dantzler made a play that earned him a game ball from O’Connell. That’s what can happen when you’re a “situational master.”

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