Disclaimer: The following 900 words may leave more for questions for thought than answers of finality.
Seemingly in alternating weeks, a different rendition of the Pandemic Vikings is on display. In Week 1 versus the Packers, the product was mostly cringeworthy. The following week at Indianapolis was significantly worse. Minnesota rebounded effectively against the Titans but fell short. After that, Mike Zimmer’s group took care of business in Houston and downed the hapless Texans. The team then traveled northeasterly, pushing Russell Wilson and his Seattle Seahawks to the brink, to no avail. And, the week before the bye at home against Atlanta was a wholesale embarrassment.
The bar was lowered as the Vikings crossed state lines into Wisconsin for a post-bye week date with the Packers. The expectations were barren because Green Bay had been playing a high-octane brand of football sans a one-game stinker in Tampa Bay.
Mike LaFleur and his green and gold bunch were 5.5-point favorites (which felt very modest) in Week 8 and sought to pound Minnesota into a 1-6 submission. That prognosis backfired as the Vikings – on the shoulders of Dalvin Cook – upended Green Bay in a game marred by tempestuous winds, 28-22.
The NFL has expanded its playoff format to an extra team per conference. Therefore, the Vikings are not as sunk as they would have been in a pre-2020 campaign. The flabby parts of the team’s schedule is afoot – Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, and Carolina.
Can the Vikings tabulate a streak of wins and even the damn thing up by Thanksgiving? Or is it idiocy to believe all is well?
Colts-Falcons Buffoonery?
The Mike Zimmer-led Vikings are at their very worst when their opponent jumps on top of the purple and gold and suffocates them via time of possession. While Minnesota is capable of quick-strike plays, these are set up by the run game and a bit of mystery. Seldom do the Vikings line up on offense and fling the pigskin in a spread offense. Who are we kidding? That never happens.
So, when a team like Indianapolis or Atlanta hogs the football, the Vikings will fail. Such is the case for most NFL teams, but this is amplified with the Vikings. Zimmer’s defense in the six years prior could slightly overcome a bland day at the office for the offense. Now, those days are gone (and probably will not return until 2021, at the earliest).
Minnesota has shown twice – beyond the shadow of a doubt – that putrid play lies within the cellular makeup of this 2020 team. It’s spooky. The defense is so young that any given game could enable a glimpse of the nasty version. It will take a full offseason [and maybe more] to erase the semblances of the poor football vivified in Indianapolis and at home versus Atlanta.
Seahawks-Packers Barnburners?
But, my God. Any football team that can go toe-to-toe with the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers within a three-week period is worthy of a hat tip. Truth be told, the Vikings should have edged Seattle on October 11th, but 2-3 frustrating plays ended the euphoria. A coherent case can be bad that a team with Danielle Hunter, Michael Pierce, Anthony Barr, and Dalvin Cook probably finds a way to close that contest out.
Last weekend, Minnesota found a scrappy way to stun its most-hated rival. The win was of the season-saving ilk. Rampant trade scenarios and rumors were mostly earthed six feet deep. Job security for the head coach, general manager, and quarterback was handed a seatbelt. And, seedlings of optimism were dusted off as a peek of the forthcoming schedule glows less daunting.
The Vikings have playmakers – Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, Kirk Cousins, Eric Kendricks, Harrison Smith, Anthony Harris – that wholly disqualify them from floundering to a 2-14 record. That sort of futility flat-out will not happen.
Based on the resume of the head coach and an array of playmakers, Minnesota is more likely a team that wins its next four games than one that coughs them all away.
End Result May Be Right in the Middle
Should one trust the Parcellsian motto “You are what your record says you are,” the Vikings are bumbling to a 5-11 record. That may not be out of the question if the Colts and Falcons performances pop up next week versus Detroit or on Monday Night during Week 10 in Chicago.
A team that trades blows with the Titans, Seahawks, and Packers is a team that can win north of five games, though. A fair compromise lives in a 7-9 or 8-8 record. This will drive many Vikings faithful bonkers but tough luck. Players do not sabotage seasons to foster better draft picks. That is an NBA-like, fantasyland strategy weirdly transplanted in the NFL by couch-based fans doubling as general managers.
Players play. Whether it is to reach the postseason, secure their next contract, or relish a “spoiler” role, players have no desire to recruit sexy young players via losing games.
The Vikings will now incur a breath-of-fresh-air section of their schedule that offers winnable games. By the end of the month, they will be able to answer the original question prefaced in the title of this piece.