Questions Answered: Mock Draft, More COVID, and Too Many Close Games
Dustin Baker
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The following questions are about current Minnesota Vikings topics, answered by VikingsTerritory. Today’s is the December 15th edition, addressed in a from-the-hip fashion. If you have questions, please email them to [email protected].
Also, please note: These are opinion-based responses. Some answers will be incorrect from time to time. But we’ll try to keep that to a minimum.
Q: Mock drafts are starting to pop up. What roster position will the Vikings draft in the 1st Round this April?
A: Foremost, the Vikings haven’t selected an EDGE rusher in the 1st Round of an NFL draft since 2005. That needs to change. So far, they’ve dodged the bullet with herculean acquisitions since then like Jared Allen, Everson Griffen, and Danielle Hunter over the last 16 years.
But now is the time to join the rest of the world in drafting a highly-touted pass rusher. Everson Griffen is nearing the end — which could actually be now, depending on the outcome of his recent health consultation — and Danielle Hunter may or may not be Minnesota’s defensive end of the future. That one hinges on green pieces of money.
Too, the Vikings will probably need a linebacker if Anthony Barr departs, plus the cornerback room will be crazy skimpy by mid-winter.
The answer is EDGE, linebacker, or cornerback.
Q: How many players are affected by COVID this week?
A: Too many.
Monday and Tuesday walloped the NFL with COVID bombshells, and the Vikings were not absolved. For now — the list could grow — the COVID-affected players are Alexander Mattison, Dede Westbrook, Dan Chisena, and Kyle Hinton.
Always remember — the Vikings were notoriously called the “most unvaccinated” team in the league as the 2021 season kicked off. If a team gets hit harder by the coronavirus fallout, it could easily be Minnesota because the unvaccinated dudes are hit with a 10-day quarantine right off the bat.
Thankfully for the Vikings, if they don’t play buffoonish at Soldier Field — that’s happened before — they can win without Mattison, Westbrook, Chisena, and Hinton.
But drop a Cousins, Jefferson, or Cook on the list, and things get nervewracking.
Q: Are all of the close games for the Vikings — a record?
A: It feels like it — but no.
In fact, a different Vikings team had more than this current team, if that can be believed. The Vikings record for games decided by eight or fewer points is 13. And that was the 1999 team. Indeed, the Jeff George-led Vikings somehow made games extremely interesting.
The 2021 Vikings have played in 12 games decided by eight or fewer points. The NFL record is 14, held by two teams — the 1994 New York Giants and the 2015 Baltimore Ravens.
To break this “record,” the Vikings would need to fire up close games in three out of the four remaining games on the schedule. The way the 2021 Vikings perform, the record is achievable.
But nobody wants this record. Just blow some teams off the map, for god’s sake.
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).
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