That feels like a straw man argument. All teams play good and bad teams during the year. You can't throw out a season worth of a sample, and focus on a couple games. For example, this team was extremely good on third downs this season (not as good as 2017, but close). They were torched on 3rd downs against the bears. But, their best cover corner, and one of the better corners in the league, was out. I believe Rhodes changes that stat, and potentially changes that game. Talent alone doesn't win games, like has already been said. In the modern NFL, what matters most IMO is 3rd efficiency and touchdowns. Offensive effectiveness is important while assessing the defense. Vikings did neither well Sunday against the Bears. Defenses obviously adjusted to the Vikings offense mid year and were able to exploit their weaknesses (mainly, an immobile qb and leaky OL). That said, Zimmer/Spielman need to fix the problems. Signing Cousins was great, but everyone screamed for OL help that never came. I wonder if they held back on making major roster changes with the fear of backlash from the core players. They should have free reign to reshuffle the deck now, and still have the strong core players.