Off the basis of the Vikings' effort in their 23-20 loss at Arizona on Thursday night, along with the improvement a number of their young players have shown this season, fans would not be wrong in calling this the best team the Vikings have had since the 2009 squad that went to the NFC Championship Game and nearly made it to the Super Bowl.
The way the Vikings defense competed without Anthony Barr, Harrison Smith, Linval Joseph and Andrew Sendejo was amazing. The unit continues to improve under coach Mike Zimmer, with young stars such as Barr, Everson Griffen, Xavier Rhodes and Eric Kendricks having breakout seasons.