Why a Vikings Bounceback Performance Against the Colts Is So Important
Dustin Baker
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The win-loss outcome of Saturday’s Minnesota Vikings showdown with the Indianapolis Colts means nothing at all.
Absolutely nothing.
Preseason is used to dip toes in water, adjudicating which players are viable for the 53-man roster — which will be announced by the Vikings in 10 days. If the Vikings topple the Colts 56-0, that is also not a boastful ordeal. It would merely indicate that Minnesota played better than last weekend’s Denver Broncos stinker.
Ergo, it really doesn’t matter who wins the second preseason game. But the Vikings must look competent. While head coach Mike Zimmer is mum on the number of snaps the first-string players will take, it is reasonable to assume that the first-teamers will get a little tread. Otherwise, it’s the 2020 offseason all over again for the most vaunted section of the depth chart. NFL teams did not play any preseason games last year due to the severity of the pandemic.
The Colts are merchants of naughty memories imposed on the Vikings as of late. In 2016, Minnesota’s playoff hopes dangled by a shoestring when Andrew Luck and friends ripped them to shreds at U.S. Bank Stadium in one of the most lifeless performances of the Mike Zimmer era. That December matchup punctuated a wild 2016 season for Zimmer. First, his quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was lost for the season. The team responded by winning five games out of the gate led by Sam Bradford. Then, the Vikings nosedived thereafter, finishing the season 8-8 and missing the postseason altogether after owning fancy mathematical odds to reach the playoffs sitting at 5-0.
Last year, Lucas Oil Stadium was the venue for Minnesota’s lousiest showing. Nothing at all worked when the Vikings traveled to Indiana in Week 2. Kirk Cousins was “Bad Kirk,” the defense missed tackles ad nauseam, and Anthony Barr was lost for the season to a torn pectoral muscle.
The Colts know how to spank the Vikings.
The implications from this preseason tryst are faint compared to the aforementioned contests. However, the Vikings must establish some momentum on Saturday night. The first-teamers on offense and defense need a few sound drives to prove the local hype about the team is genuine. Should the production mimic the Broncos outing, the pitchfork crowd will actually start digitally skewering the team. Last week, the pitchforks pounded the ground, falling just short of a full-scale impaling. A redux for Preseason Week 1 will send fans to stinking thinking — a common tactic for cynical Vikings fans.
The task is not tremendously difficult. Score a touchdown, convert some field goals and extra points, force the Colts to punt, and then ask the Vikings punter to kick the ball further than 35 yards.
The Vikings just need moxie. That is all. Prove that the Broncos game was indeed an outlier. Zimmer rested 30 players versus Denver, culminating in a shellacking that peeved a lot of fans.
He won’t bench 30 men tonight, so the product should be competitive. An adept performance will erase last week’s game. Memories are short in The Digital Age, and the Denver game is easy to delete.
The final score doesn’t matter, but a reduction of follies does.