Minnesota Vikings Utilizing Sports Science To Reduce Injuries En Route To 7–1 Start

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By Simon Ogus

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News that caught my eye this week was an article in Sports Illustrated that the Minnesota Vikings under new coach Kevin O’Connell was one of the healthiest teams in the league and that has been a large spark to their 6–1 record.

On its face, this news would not likely be earth-shattering as injuries in the NFL can sometimes be flukey or teams can have good fortune by having fewer injuries, but prevailing knowledge has always been that injuries in football are largely unavoidable and teams for the most part prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

But NFL injuries are something I have long been fascinated about as a way to really have sports science/technology as a positive driver to team success. After all, the Vikings have a much better chance of winning a game with starting quarterback Kirk Cousins as compared to backup quarterback Nick Mullens and all it takes is one injury to potentially derail their season.

O’Connell was hired from the Los Angeles Rams, who SI found has been traditionally one of the healthiest teams in the league over a five-year stretch under coach Sean McVay and O’Connell went to work immediately upon being hired to build out a sports science team. He set out to change everything the Vikings had previously done whether it was sleep recovery, what they eat, or how they acclimate to new time zones, and given the drastic changes year to year with the core of the roster intact — it shows this type of due diligence can not only make for healthier players but will also help the team win games. Given the Vikings’ immediate success in this area, it appears to be another application for the sports/technology community.