Our Staff Prediction for Vikings at Cardinals
Dustin Baker
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The VikingsTerritory collective staff prediction for the Minnesota Vikings date with the Cardinals in Arizona is ready.
Minnesota faces a hot opponent in Week 1 — at least in terms of the Cardinals eviscerating the Tennessee Titans on the road last week. Led by Kyler Murray on offense and Chandler Jones on defense, the Cardinals are 3.5-point favorites to outduel the Vikings in Week 2.
And the writers at VikingsTerritory predict the Vikings will sink to 0-2 after their meeting with the Cardinals.
Eight contributors picked Arizona to win whereas four remained faithful to the Vikings.
Here’s how the panel sees the score for Week 2:
- Dustin Baker: Cardinals Win, 28-24
- Sean Borman: Cardinals Win, 35-31
- Josh Frey: Cardinals Win, 28-24
- Henrique Gucciardi: Vikings Win, 24-21
- Wes Johnson: Cardinals Win, 33-31
- Kyle Joudry: Cardinals Win, 34-24
- Kirby O’Connor: Vikings Win, 28-13
- Bob Sansevere: Cardinals Win, 31-17
- Ali Siddiqui: Vikings Win, 24-21
- Rick Sosa: Cardinals Win, 34-20
- Andrew Waters: Vikings Win, 27-24
- Mike Wobschall: Cardinals Win, 29-27
Mathematically en masse, we predict the Cardinals will keep the Vikings winless by a score of 28-25.
The Cardinals are landlocked in a brutal NFC West division, comprised of the Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams, and San Francisco 49ers. The Vikings, on the other hand, live in the NFC North, a division where no teams won during Week 1. Arizona must win homes games like this versus the Vikings to keep pace with its competition. For the Vikings, the Bengals game was supposed to be “easy” compared to the rest of its 2021 schedule. It wasn’t. Minnesota now must make up ground vis-a-vis beating a team “they shouldn’t.” That could be the Cardinals, Seahawks, or Browns — the next threesome of opponents for Minnesota.
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).