Contrary to Popular Belief, Vikings Fans Unaffected by DEN Game
Dustin Baker
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91.1%.
That’s the amount of Minnesota Vikings fans largely unconcerned about the team’s awful preseason performance versus the Denver Broncos last weekend.
How did the 33-6 bashing of the Vikings by the Broncos change your feelings about Minnesota's 2021 overall outlook?
— Dustin Baker (@DustBaker) August 15, 2021
The event marked the first time since late December of 2019 that the Vikings hosted a home game. The pandemic season reduced virtually all attendance by fans down to nubbins.
On the first day back, Minnesota looked moronic. The quarterbacking was poor, the defense nonexistent, and even the punting was pathetic. Head coach Mike Zimmer was sure to let his team – and the media – know all about it.
"I told them it was a very poor performance." – Coach Zimmer
?: @NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/BzthsVWgo8
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) August 14, 2021
But that’s what happens when 30 players are intentionally rested.
And the fans know it. There is always a buildup to preseason that is full of zest and excitement. However, the actual games are sloppy and meaningless for regular-season outlook. All of the starting personnel stood padless on the sidelines for the Vikings whereas most of the Broncos starters were on the field. It is not supernatural that the Broncos first-teamers flogged the Vikings second and third-stringers. Try to find a mental pathway to the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks G-League team winning an NBA Championship. You’ll find roadblocks.
On social media, fans panicked. The usual storylines resurfaced: Zimmer didn’t have time team prepared, the defense still sucks, Mond is a bust, Cousins is at fault somehow, etc. Indeed, the anxious fans played the hits.
With the results of the aforementioned unscientific poll, though, it was the mad people that yelled the loudest. If you haven’t learned that about social media, now’s the time to learn a lesson. Folks that are upset scream the loudest, drowning out the levelheaded quiet types.
Of course, it would have been super if the Vikings second and third-stringers kicked the Broncos first-teamers in the teeth. But that was never going to happen because, well, that just isn’t how sports work. Elite athletes supersede the lower-tier ones. Period.
On the other hand, the Vikings will likely play first-teamers this weekend at U.S. Bank Stadium against the Indianapolis Colts. They must look borderline competent. Otherwise, the premature pitchforks will really pound the ground. It doesn’t help matters that the third preseason game – against the Kansas City Chiefs no less – will probably be a redux of the Broncos game. Zimmer is unlikely to start his first-stringers in the final preseason game due to injury fears. And that’s a leaguewide tendency.
If you heard or saw folks bashing the Vikings based on a preseason game sans 30 players, understand that they don’t fully grasp how the sport works. It’s fine to be mad that players struggled – but don’t use the contest as an indicator of regular-season performance. That’s silly.
Thankfully, the vast majority of fans get it, according to the Twitter poll.
Curiously, the Green Bay Packers also tossed 30 players on the bench for their first preseason game. What happened? Well, they got gutted 26-7 by the Houston Texans, a team ranked as the worst in the NFL by most reputable power rankings. The Packers “excuse” of resting players perfectly explains away their ineptitude in losing to the Texans. For the Vikings, however, the entire season is called into question.
It’s a strange paradox.