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| On 10 years ago

2014 Minnesota Vikings: Schedule Released, Functionally

By Arif Hasan

The Minnesota Vikings have unofficially released their 2014 schedule, which really just orders what we know in terms of who we play. Via @adamisthesoty (h/t to @VikingsCorner for pointing me in the right direction), it was released in image form, as below:

Hooray.

The Vikings home opener will be against one of the few teams that made the AFC exciting last year, with the New England Patriots in Week 2, but their first game will be against the “weakest” of the NFL’s strongest 2013 division, the St. Louis Rams. With tons of draft picks (a result of the RGIII trade), the Rams are poised to cause a lot of damage, especially if they trade down in the 2014 draft, too.

Minnesota will shortly thereafter play against the New Orleans Saints, hopefully reviving a rivalry that sparked and died after Favre became bad.

The only nationally televised game (before flexing) will be against the Packers on the NFL Network, and that will be at Lambeau. The Vikings’ notorious weakness for primetime games won’t bite them too much, then.

As has become the norm, the Vikings are finishing out against a divisional team, but the NFL has chosen not to let the NFC North finish with any of their strong traditional rivalries, with the Packers playing the Lions in the last week, and the Vikings against the Bears (which is a rivalry, but not the same as Vikings-Packers or Packers-Bears).

If strength-of-schedule means anything (it doesn’t), then the beginning of the season looks like it will be tough, with the rest looking a bit easier. In text:

WEEK ONE: September 7th—12:00PM CDT at St. Louis Rams
WEEK TWO: September 14th—12:00 PM CDT vs. New England Patriots
WEEK THREE: September 21st—12:00 PM CDT at New Orleans Saints
WEEK FOUR: September 28th—3:25 PM CDT vs. Atlanta Falcons
WEEK FIVE: October 2nd—7:25 PM CDT at Green Bay Packers
WEEK SIX: October 12th—12:00 PM CDT vs. Detroit Lions
WEEK SEVEN: October 19th—12:00 PM CDT at Buffalo Bills
WEEK EIGHT: October 26th—12:00 PM CDT at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
WEEK NINE: November 2nd—12:00 PM CDT vs. Washington Redskins
WEEK TEN: BYE
WEEK ELEVEN: November 16th—12:00 PM CDT at Chicago Bears
WEEK TWELVE: November 23rd—12:00 PM CDT vs. Green Bay Packers
WEEK THIRTEEN: November 30th—12:00 PM CDT vs. Carolina Panthers
WEEK FOURTEEN: December 7th—12:00 PM CDT vs. New York Jets
WEEK FIFTEEN: December 14th—12:00 PM CDT at Detroit Lions
WEEK SIXTEEN: December 21st—12:00 PM CDT at Miami Dolphins
WEEK SEVENTEEN: December 28th—12:00 PM CDT vs. Chicago Bears

It looks like a relatively late bye (Week 10 was big for byes in the last two years) and four of the last seven games (traditionally cold) outdoors in cold climates.

UPDATE: PER THE VIKINGS OFFICIAL PUBLIC RELATIONS TWITTER, THE ATLANTA GAME WILL ACTUALLY BE 3:25 PM CDT

 

Well, then.

ALSO UPDATE: I guess the Vikings will play against Leslie Frazier in Week Eight, so there you go. Grudge something against the old NFC Central rival.

Arif Hasan

View Comments

  • Hi Arif,

    Best Vikings coverage hands down, and first out of the gate with analysis of the 2014 schedule, too.
    Thank you!

  • New coaches and new two year outdoor Vikings. Should be interesting..At least no brutal late December night games. It's not going to be easy. I'm sure you've calculated the odds being against the Vikings.: new stadium, new coaches.all time Viking low. Hopefully, they have some sense and feed it to Patterson las much as Peterson right off the bat. Peterson in space, please, Norv, finally..They're going to have to be aggressive and smart with their assets this year, unlike Frazier was. All the coaches and Ponder were so LAME, god I'm glad that's over with..

    • Cmon you cant make predictions this early, even before the draft? Lets wait till we see who we get. With a few key pieces(Mack or manziel) and some solid depth we could easily be a double digit win team. On the other hand if we blow another first rounder on somebody like Bridgewater we could put the franchise back 5+ years.

  • "before flexing"
    Got to say Arif, I LOVED that!
    If Vegas made the bet, I'd put some money down We'll be Flexing!

  • Ok, on a completely different topic, I must ask the question:
    Where the hell is Tomb, Big Johnny and our Coach??
    It's not like those guys to be absent this long.
    I'm suspecting a three way...... That'll ge Coach out of the wood work.

    ADAM, fill us in.

      • I'm with you Skol, where are these guys?
        Maybe Adam can shed some light? I know he keeps in touch with a few of them . . .

          • Last time Adam and those guys were gone like this, was back on Vikings Gab, then Adam started a new blog(this one).

          • Right? It took me a year to realize that, I was stuck at Vikings gab forever after everybody had left for here.

          • That cracked me up Skol.
            I didn't know that. Sorry dude.
            Wonder if that's what happened to Home Skillet?

            Also wonder where Adam, Brett, Coach, Tomb and Big Johnny are?

          • Never saw Homeskillet after the old Access Vikings days from the Strib.
            Somewhere that sucker is double posting, and having a ball doing it!

          • We are here! Just super swamped and thankful for Arif, Lindsey, Carl and, of course, all of you! We will return!

          • Well shoot, hope that isn't it, it'd be hard surpass VT.
            Naw, I'm sure that isn't it.
            He's probably in the process of moving back to Alaska .
            Salmon season is right the corner.

          • Well shoot, hope that isn’t it, it’d be hard surpass VT.
            Naw, I’m sure that isn’t it.
            He’s probably in the process of moving back to Alaska .
            Salmon season is right the corner.

  • I had the same first impression as arif. But I gave it more thought, it's too far out to project but it's not a favorable schedule overall. Obviously this league is built for parity and every year teams change by 4+ wins. The problem is our non divisional home slate. Patriots, Falcons, Panthers, Jets, Redskins. I expect the panthers and falcons to regress to the mean but both should be tough, the jets and skins are toss ups and the patriots are at the tail end of the Brady era but should be more talented across the board this year. Whether the vikings are a better team or not, none of those teams look like pushovers. If we were good it would be promising, but this season I would have preferred the non-division away slate on our turf.

    • This schedule is either 11-5 stuff or 5-11 material. If we're close to the level that those home teams are, we should go something like 11-5 with the added boost of home field advantage. However, If we are going to lose to the good teams either way, it would be advantageous to have the lower-tier teams at home.

  • If we draft well, don't get a lot of injuries and get more good luck than bad
    then 1-4 to start with loan win to the rams
    and 10-1 to finish with loan loss to the panthers

    • Does that mean we gotta pay back the win from the Rams? But, hey Carolina will owe us a win...I'll take it!