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Single-Season Leaders in Estimated Points per Estimated Drive Allowed (DPPED)

by on July 2, 2015
in History, Statgeekery

The Purple People Eaters

The Purple People Eaters

The 1969 Minnesota Vikings were really good on defense. It began with the defensive line, as that Minnesota squad was the only team in NFL history to send all four defensive linemen to the Pro Bowl. Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall, and Gary Larsen may have been the greatest combination of defensive linemen playing together in their primes in NFL history. The Vikings also had Hall of Fame safety Paul Krause playing in the prime of his career.

Minnesota was quarterback by Joe Kapp, but propped up by the defense: after the season, Kapp was traded to the Patriots, and proceeded to suffer the second worst decline in passer rating in NFL history. The Vikings went 12-2 that season, losing on opening day and in a meaningless game at the end of the year.

Minnesota allowed just 133 points, or 9.5 points per game, in 1969. That’s the 2nd fewest in a season since World War II, trailing only the Gritz Blitz 1977 Falcons. The Vikings allowed 16 touchdowns in 1969, but four came on returns (two on interceptions, one fumble, one interception)! Exclude those, and the Vikings allowed just 84 points on touchdowns and 21 points on field goals, for a total of 105 points allowed to the opposing offense.

Now, how many drives did the Vikings defense face? There are, as before, two ways of measuring this. The first is by measuring the end of drives.

  • 8 opponent drives ended in passing touchdowns;
  • 30 ended in interceptions;
  • 4 ended with rushing touchdowns;
  • 18 ended with field goal attempts;
  • 100 ended with punts;
  • 12 ended due to a lost fumble; and
  • 0 safeties

That’s a total of 172 estimated drives. What are we missing here? Drives that ended because the half or game expired, and drives that ended due to a failed fourth down conversion.

The other method is to look at the start of drives. Minnesota:

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