A Win over Browns Would Erase Vikings Woeful 0-2 Start
When the Minnesota Vikings 2021 schedule debuted in the spring, the first two contests versus the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals were circled as winnable affairs.
The Vikings lost both games.
To make amends for dropping two would-be wins because of fluky happenstance, Minnesota set sights on Weeks 3 and 4 for retribution. So far, so good. After nine seasons of monkeying with ways to beat Russell Wilson — the Seahawks were 7-0 against the Vikings led by Wilson until last weekend — head coach Mike Zimmer finally ended the doldrums. Minnesota toppled Seattle at U.S. Bank Stadium 30-17 in Week 3, giving fans hope, yet again, the team was not a bottom-feeder.
And that’s where events stand right now. The Vikings look like a pretty damn good football team, disabling turnovers while moving the ball on offense. The defense, though, needs attention as Zimmer’s bunch allows the second-to-most yards per play in the NFL through three weeks (6.8 yards per play). If Zimmer can whisk his men back to the standard of 2014-2019, this 2021 group of Vikings might just make noise in the postseason.
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Yet, the schedule is playing out in the inverse. The Vikings were “supposed” to tame the Bengals, ground the Cardinals, and then let the chips fall against the Seahawks and Browns. After all, Cincinnati came off a brutal 2020 campaign — and no one really knew if Arizona would conduct its next step to relevance. Alas, the Bengals are 2-1, and the Cardinals look like a guaranteed playoff team for the first time in half of a decade.
Because the Vikings dropped games in which they should have taken care of business, Zimmer’s team must win makeup games, so to speak. If you drop the gimmes, you gotta win the “won’t wins” to stay afloat.
Staying afloat is precisely what Minnesota did in Week 3. Had the franchise rolled over and expired while trailing 17-7 to Seattle, this article would likely be authored about Zimmer’s short-term forecast as head coach. But winning fixes all in sports — especially thwarting longstanding foes like Seattle.
The next step is defying the odds — again — to beat the Browns. Since quarterback Baker Mayfield arrived in Ohio, the Browns became legitimate for the first time in almost twenty years. Mayfield is not a top-tier passer, but with some maturity, he might get there in a few years. Regardless, he’s tugged Cleveland back to legitimacy. It’s a simple as not being terrible. The Browns were the unadulterated laughingstock of the NFL for a decade. Now, they’re back.
Cleveland’s transformation seemed to happen overnight — draft Mayfield, sign Odell Beckham, hire a youthful, offensive-minded head coach. Badda bing. The Browns were good again.
So, if the Vikings can defeat the Browns, a team universally considered pretty damn formidable, the purple and gold are back in the thick of things. It takes the conquer of good opponents — like Seattle and Cleveland.
Obviously, not fumbling in overtime at Cincinnati or making a 37-yard field goal in Arizona would’ve been the meal ticket for zenith excitement. But this is the Vikings, folks. You’re just going to have inexplicable oddities akin to the certainty of the sun rising.
Beat the Browns, and playoff drums will sound. They might even sound like a Gjallarhorn.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).