“A lot of guys that are still hungry,” Greenard said. “A lot of guys have faced a lot of adversity. We’ve got guys that are either late picks, third round, whatever, undrafted.”
“This whole team is filled with that mindset,” he added. “And I feel like that’s one of the things that everybody is trying to figure out. When are we going to get complacent? You showed yourself, you proved to everybody, ‘Cool, you get your pat on your back.’ But we don’t care about that.”
Etc.
· O’Connell has coached 40 games (regular and postseason) for the Vikings so far, and he’s off to the best start as far as winning percentage with a 25-15 record of any head coach in franchise history, surpassing Dennis Green’s 24-16 from 1992 through the start of the 1994 season.
· This is the Vikings’ sixth 5-0 start since 1990, the most by any NFL franchise in that 35-year span, according to Pro Football Reference. However, only six teams started 5-0 and missed the playoffs, and the Vikings are the only team to do that twice: 2003, 2016. The Vikings lost in the NFC title game the other three years: 1998, 2000 and 2009.
· Through five games, safety Josh Metellus (304 snaps) and former Eden Prairie and Gophers linebacker Blake Cashman (297 snaps) lead the team in playing time, including special teams work. Cashman was the Texans’ leading tackler last season, and he’s leading the Vikings with 39 solo and assisted tackles, per NFL data.