More often than not, the Vikings intentionally boot the ball shorter than possible on kickoffs, trying to bait the return team into running with the ball rather than taking a touchback and starting from the 25-yard line.

The Vikings’ goal in those situations is to tackle to the return man inside the 20, an aggressive move that comes with plenty of risk.

They saw that risk firsthand last weekend when the Eagles’ Josh Huff returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. Related Articles Vikings sign linebacker Hardy Nickerson off practice squad

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While special teams coach Mike Priefer said he likes to take that risk, the Vikings may soon consider stop that if their kickoff coverage doesn’t improve.

This season, the Vikings are allowing 29.5 yards per kickoff, worst in the NFL.

“We’re not going to coach scared, and I’ve never coached scared,” Priefer said. “I’m not going to do it, and if we don’t cover kicks better, then the head coach is going to say, ‘Hey, kick them out of the end zone when you can,’ and obviously, I’ve got to do that, we’ve got to do that. But we’re an aggressive football team. We want to challenge people whenever we can, because I think we’re pretty good. But we can’t make mistakes like that and hurt our football team.”

The Vikings challenge their opponent to return kickoffs more than most NFL teams. They only yield a touchback, often a predetermined decision, on 47 percent of kickoffs, fifth fewest in the NFL.

“I don’t want to be the type of guy that’s just going to kick touchbacks all the time,” Priefer said. “So, we’re going to challenge our guys to get better, to improve, and we need to move on from there.”