Are the Vikings on their way to an 0-4 start?! ?
AJ Mansour
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So Week #1 sucked. Just all around it was bad.
The team played poorly, the team made mistakes, the fears we had from the offseason/preseason reared their ugly heads…but worst of all, the team lost a game that we all chalked up as a win before the season started.
It was just five days ago when I was joking around about Ja’Marr Chase predicting a Bengals win. At the time that seemed arrogant and uninformed for the rookie to spout off on social media giving the Vikings bulletin board material already in the first week of the season.
Then it came true and the Vikings lost 27-24 on the road.
So here we are, having lost a game that they should have one…sitting at 0-1 (albeit atop the division, sort of) and looking down the chute at a difficult schedule that starts with the Arizona Cardinals on the road this weekend.
What are the realities that this team starts the season 0-4, and what does that mean for messrs Cousins, Spielman, Zimmer, et all?
Let’s start with looking back at what worried me from last week. We entered the season with a few concerns surrounding this Minnesota Vikings team. (1) They didn’t score a touchdown with their first team offensive unit all preseason. (2) Last year this defense couldn’t stop the run game if their lives depended on it. (3) The offensive line was in shambles and couldn’t protect their QB. (4) There was no pressure on opposing quarterbacks whatsoever. (5) Special teams was a hot mess last year and almost fully turned over this preseason.
Of those five points, two were seemingly solved through one week, one is still up in the air a bit and two of them remained GLARING problems. Special teams was arguable the lone bright spot in Week #1, they scored a few points despite a crazy number of penalties and the defense got five sacks, though I’d argue they came with the price of submitting to the run.
The other bullets there; run defense and pass blocking remained serious concerns for this team. Perfect timing for a team that has a mobile quarterback and league leader in pass rushing & sacks in Kyler Murray and Chandler Jones. The Cardinals roll into week two as a consensus top-5 team through one week in the power rankings and they’re licking their chops against a Vikings team that looks like they can be had.
It’s tough to win on the road in the NFL no matter what. Throw a mobile quarterback in the mix against our struggling offensive line, an aerial attack that can go one of three ways against our depleted secondary and a defensive end that leads the league with 5 sacks up against a backup LT in Rashod Hill and we’ve got some problems on tap for the weekend.
It’s only a 4.0/4.5 point spread right now, but smart money will likely be taking the Cardinals in this one and that line is likely to move.
Look ahead to week #3, a homecoming for the Vikings who will be in U.S. Bank Stadium in front of fans for the first time in more than a year. They’ll need all that added momentum as they’re hosting Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle dominated Indy in week one, gets Tennessee in week two and very well could come into Minnesota 2-0 on the season. Same drill…mobile QB, flashy deep passing game and speed rushers on the edge. Doesn’t line up well for the Vikings.
Then week #4 brings one of the most innovative offensive and defensive teams in the league when Cleveland visits Minnesota for a matchup between Mike Zimmer and Kevin Stefanski for the first time. Cleveland is good, they’re creative and they have even more fire power on the defense than Cincy, Arizona and Cincy have maybe combined. Nick Chubb will cause problems, OBJ has been an issue for this team in the past and who knows which Baker Mayfield you’ll get.
So the possibility is there that if this team doesn’t get their act together and do it soon, they start the season winless through their first four games. Then what?
At that point we’re talking about the future for Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman. Spielman is unlikely to see a change midseason, but head coaches get fired in season all the time. I don’t think it happens after week four, but if they’re winless you’re for sure going to hear it talked about left and right the rest of the way. From there, each week is a must win scenario for the coaching staff who could be grasping at straws.
And then there’s Kirk. In my opinion, the decision is already made on Kirk. Run this contract out, consider all options heading into 2022 and see what you have in Kellen Mond and the 2022 Draft. It would appear as if Cousins is not the solution for the future with this team.
All of this said, I’m hoping and willing to eat crow and have this team come out of the gates firing starting in Week #2 versus Arizona. I don’t think it will happen, but I’d be cool if it did. I just feel like we’re on the verge of a 2010 Minnesota Vikings-esque sort of season with on the field turmoil, problems in the locker room and off the field weirdness…we’ve already seen some of that, losing might bring the other parts.