Half human, half machine.

Half laidback and understated personality, half preternatural playmaker and quarterback haunter.

Vikings outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel reminds The Athletic's Alec Lewis of a cyborg due to "his feel" – how he diagnoses and denies screens, flusters offenses and can lynchpin Minnesota's pressure plans.

Limited by a neck injury this season that popped up in training camp, the 2024 Second-Team All-Pro has played just 164 snaps over four games and three starts. His contributions are tremendous, though. 'Gink' made five tackles, including one for a loss, and broke up two passes in Week 1 at Chicago. Re-appearing in Week 3 against Cincinnati, he managed only eight snaps – but two sacks. During the Vikings upset at Detroit in Week 9, Van Ginkel dropped into coverage about as much as he rushed the passer, and helped clog throwing windows while the middle of Minnesota's defense caved the pocket and sacked Jared Goff a season-high five times. And in Week 10 against Baltimore, Van Ginkel interrupted another two targets.

His second tipped ball versus the Ravens nearly resulted in a legendary interception with 2:00 left.

Now that Van Ginkel is inserted into his usual role, Lewis assessed his excellence. Here's a description:

There are instances where Van Ginkel, 30, seems to teleport. In other moments, a review of a Vikings defensive coverage is almost necessary to ascertain whether there are multiple Van Ginkels on the field.

Is it possible Van Ginkel is both one of Minnesota's purest pass-rushers and coverage players? Absolutely.

He may actually be the most versatile chess piece in the league. Since joining the Purple, Van Ginkel is one of three defenders with at least 10 sacks, 10 passes defended and 20 QB hits (also Brian Burns and Maxx Crosby). The only Vikings with more PBUs than Gink's 10 in that span are Byron Murphy, Jr., (16) and Harrison Smith (13). And the only person with more sacks than his 13.5 is Jonathan Greenard (14).

He's so good at so many things, luring offensive attention. And yet Van Ginkel forces offenses into errors.

Lewis shared that when Miami, formerly led by Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores, drafted Van Ginkel in the fifth round in 2019, the raw but budding talent immersed himself in the minutiae of Flores' scheme. Fast-forward to their 2024 reunion, and Van Ginkel's game-changing feats make more sense; he knows why particular coverage calls work against particular quarterbacks, and how his role affects them.

Lewis wrote the following:

Van Ginkel became one of the primary ingredients in last year's defensive transformation. This year, the difference between Flores' defense when Van Ginkel is on the field and when he isn't is drastic. Minnesota's defense rises from 20^th in the league in success rate to eighth when Van Ginkel is on the field.

Vikings outside linebackers coach Thad Bogardus relayed a key aspect of Van Ginkel's skill set to Lewis.

"I think one of the biggest things with him that you don't necessarily see is how he's able to make things right," he said. "It might not be the perfect communication. It might not be the perfect call. But his feel."

We recommend checking out Lewis' full article on the cyborg-like linebacker called Gink', here.

A look at Da Bears QB

There's a few connections between the quarterbacks squaring off at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday.

Of course, the most obvious is Caleb Williams was drafted 1^st overall and J.J. McCarthy 10^th in 2024.

Also, among players with five-plus pass attempts, Williams owns the longest time to throw in the NFL this year, at 3.27 seconds. And McCarthy is right behind him, averaging 3.25 seconds on 185 fewer opps.

Now that's a stat that is easily misconstrued.

To help preview one aspect of Minnesota's Week 11 contest against Chicago, we're highlighting one of the main things that caught the eye of Steven Ruiz, a scribe for The Ringer, as he reviewed Week 10 film.

Here's the conclusion that Ruiz reached: Williams' lengthy TTT (time to throw) has more to do with his elite escapability and extension of plays than it does with a lack of ability to perform efficiently on script.

Ruiz supplied some evidence to stress Williams is playing well in Ben Johnson's system, you know, the same one that elevated Goff into an MVP candidate and became famous for timing and accurate passing.

There's pieces of that reflected in Williams' tape, granted not as much. That's because unlike Goff, the second-year, Heisman Trophy-winning, ad-lib-loving quarterback's play style is built on self-creating.

And Williams does as good of a job at it as almost anyone.

One stat in strong support of Ruiz's stance that people should disregard Williams' TTT, the highest for all qualified quarterbacks in the Next Gen Stats registry (since 2018), is his sack rate on extended dropbacks.

Ruiz divulged that Williams' sack rate on dropbacks of 4-plus seconds is 10.9 percent. That's nearly half the NFL average. Overall, his sack rate is 4.56%. It was 10.79 when he was cut down 68 times as a rookie.

Read Ruiz's complete notebook-styled article here. We're obliged to mention, however, that one breakdown of a play, where Williams scrambles for a first down, isn't a true reflection of his average TTT, which Ruiz argued would have dropped if he took a sack instead of picking up a first down with his feet.

That play doesn't fit Ruiz's narrative because the TTT metric used by Next Gen Stats excludes sacks.

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