The Minnesota Vikings have been one of the strangest teams in the NFL this season. Despite starting the year as bad as you could, Minnesota was somehow able to recover a spot in the playoff race, even with the losses of guys like Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson.

Losing these players would be enough to cause most teams to fold, but the Vikings have been able to overcome this adversity with inspired quarterback play at various points with several career backups.

The hope has been there more than once that this team could be the Cinderella story epitomized with a spot in the playoffs, and while the Vikings can overcome a lot, it seems like the one team they can't get past is themselves.

Justin Jefferson had the following to say when asked about handling the emotions in games and if that was something working against the Vikings after their recent loss to the Lions:

"I mean, the main thing is just us hurting ourselves the whole season. Countless times that weturn the ball over in tough situations and we weren’t able to hold onto the ball tonight and it hurts.Losing a turnover battle, you’re most likely going to lose every time. We got to do better at holding the ball, being better as a whole team, and come back next week with another divisional game and we got to come prepared."

The captain hit the nail on the head and it's not the first time he's mentioned how self-inflicted mistakes have been the catalysts behind losses. The Vikings have been better at beating themselves than almost anyone else in the NFL. Just look at the loss to Detroit.

If you can get past the total lack of any rushing success for the Vikings, the only other area of massive concern is Nick Mullens' turnovers (four interceptions and two fumbles).

Mullens may have gone off for one of the best days of his career with 411 yards and two touchdowns, but four picks is almost always going to end in a loss for your team. Two fumbles just makes the prospect of winning even more unreasonable. The same could be said for Mullens' prior week (303 yards, two touchdowns, and two picks).

Minnesota currently has the 2nd-worst turnover differential in the NFL at -9, which is generally the product of mediocre efficiency in this area on defense and horrid production on the offensive end.

The Vikings have the third-most fumbles, the fourth-most interceptions, and the overall second-most total turnovers on offense in the league right now. They also committed a season-worst eight penalties against the Lions, some of which killed chances of extending drives and took points off the board.

Those numbers are simply unsustainable for winning football games, and this becomes all the more frustrating for fans and the players when you look at the fact that this isn't a new or surprising problem. This has been going on all season, and the fact that nothing has been done about it (other than switching quarterbacks) is a problem.

The most frustrating thing about this is that the Vikings are obviously a well-coached team. Being able to stay competitive with a revolving door of backup quarterbacks against some quality opponents mixed with the third-fewest penalty yards in the league is extremely telling. 

It's not even like these games are total blowouts either. If moral victories were a real thing, losing by six to one of the best teams in the league while having four interceptions and two fumbles by your starting quarterback would be one of the best ever.

However, turnovers and limiting them are king in the NFL, and Minnesota being unable to get past beating themselves is going to keep leading to a lot of hurt until it is fixed.

Justin Jefferson comments on his future with Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings’ knack for playing in close games finally caught up to them with Sunday’s wild card loss to the New York Giants. All season long the Vikings turned to Justin Jefferson with the game in the balance. Unfortunately, quarterback Kirk Cousins checked down to tight end T.J. Hockenson on the team’s final offensive […]