Revived Giants, Vikings feel ‘do it now’ pressure

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings quickly found their stride under rookie head coach Kevin O’connell as a confident, close-knit and resilient team — featuring the league’s leading receiver — with an Nfl-record 11 wins by eight points or fewer.

Just because O’connell’s career is ascending doesn’t mean this season of strong wills and late-game thrills can be replicated with the current core.

The Vikings face eight-figure salary-cap hits in 2023 for eight players, five of them age 30 and older, in a crunch that likely will force the departure of a key player or two. Then there’s the statistical improbability of staying undefeated under O’connell in one-score games.

“NFL stands for ‘not for long,’ and people move on. I kind of felt like this is a special group, and there’s a time sensitivity here where we’ve got to do it now,” quarterback Kirk Cousins said after the Vikings beat the New York Giants on Dec. 24.

The playoffs have arrived, starting with a rematch Sunday against the Giants in the wild-card round. The Vikings (13-4) are back after a two-year absence that triggered the coaching change, eager to prove their viability despite a negative point differential that has fueled external doubts about their legitimacy as a contender in the wide-open NFC.

“We can be as dangerous as we want to be,” said wide receiver Justin Jefferson, whose 1,809 yards and 128 receptions were the sixth and seventh most, respectively, of all time. “I feel like we shoot ourselves in the foot the majority of the time when things don’t go our way.”

The Giants (9-7-1) are in the playoffs for the first time since 2016, with a first-time head coach in Brian Daboll. They went 22-59 over the previous five seasons.

“To be on the other side of it, it means a lot. It’s about what we do now from this point on and how we handle this opportunity, how we prepare and ultimately how we play,” quarterback Daniel Jones said. “We’re certainly happy we are where we are. But there’s a lot more.”

The Giants haven’t had a postseason victory since their Super Bowl championship 11 years ago. They snagged the second of three wild-card spots while playing in the NFL’S strongest division this season, but after winning only two of their last eight games, they largely are being overlooked.

Jefferson had 12 catches for 133 yards and a touchdown and tight end T.J. Hockenson 13 catches for 109 yards and two scores in the matchup last month, but the Giants have safety Xavier Mckinney back from the broken hand that cost him seven games.

The Giants, who were fourth in the league in rushing, have run for at least one touchdown in a franchise-record 15 straight games.

Saquon Barkley’s return to his rookie-year form after a couple of injury-wrecked seasons was one of the catalysts for the turnaround by the Giants, who gave him 352 touches — including a team-high-tying 57 receptions — for the third-most in the NFL.