Teams have been going for it, and converting, on fourth down at an unprecedented rate this season in the NFL.There have been few games where fourth-down decisions had as big an impact as last Sunday night in Seattle, when the Seahawks used two fourth-down conversions after stopping Minnesota on fourth-and-1 to beat the Vikings 27-26.In all, teams have gone for it on fourth down 188 times this season with 108 conversions, the most through five weeks since at least 1991.
The 57.4% conversion rate is second highest in that span to the 58.7% in 2012.The increase is a sign of greater influence from analytics, which show teams should go for it on fourth down at a much higher rate than they do.The numbers pointed in favor of the Vikings' decision.