ESPN Offers Surprising Playoff Projection for 2022 Vikings
For better or worse, the 2022 Minnesota Vikings are “all-in” for the seventh season in a row.
Once the franchise understood in the 2015 season that it stood a chance to contend, the Vikings annually renewed Super-Bowl-or-bust stakes.
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Even after a foundational upheaval with the terminations of Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer, new brains took residence in Eagan, Minnesota, and decided the existing roster was worthy of contendership. Therefore, Kirk Cousins was extended, core veteran playmakers were retained, and Minnesota added a few keynote defenders from free agency.
And some folks believe those measures are enough to bring the Vikings back to the postseason, a tournament not experienced in Minnesota since the 2019 season.
On Friday, ESPN broke down the 2022 prognosis for the NFC North. In the Vikings section, Kevin Seifert offered a “way-too-early bold prediction,” predicting Minnesota would reach the playoffs. Seifert wrote:
“The Vikings will earn one of the NFC’s three wild-card berths after challenging for the NFC North title. It’s true that the team is transitioning to a new front office and coaching staff, and that often in those situations, it can take a year or two before schemes and personnel start to click. But coach Kevin O’Connell is inheriting a fairly talented roster, relative to what new coaches usually encounter, and the NFC appears wide open after an offseason talent shift to the AFC. There aren’t many teams that can be counted out of the NFC playoff race, but the Vikings should enter the season among the most likely to earn a spot.”
– Kevin Seifert | ESPN
The NFL expanded entry into the playoffs in 2020, allowing seven teams per conference a whiff at the postseason. According to Seifert, that may be just what the doctor ordered for Kevin O’Connell’s Vikings.
Seifert did not predict an outright division title, but why would he? The Packers have a stranglehold on the NFC North, winning 13 games in each of the last three seasons. No matter where Davante Adams was traded, where Za’Darius Smith signed, or what happens in the draft — Green Bay is the incumbent of supremacy in the division.
But that doesn’t mean the Vikings can’t seize a wildcard spot. And, of course, maybe the Vikings will be so damn good that the Packers are finally knocked off the green throne. That depends on how quickly and efficiently new defensive coordinator Ed Donatell drags the defense to respectability. In the most crucial moments of the 2021 campaign, Minnesota’s defense emmbarrisngly collapsed, especially at the end of halves.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Kevin O’Connell, and the Vikings ownership are banking on the idea Minnesota had one primary malfunction in 2020 and 2021 — Mike Zimmer. Otherwise, Adofo-Mensah had a golden opportunity to tear down and rebuild. But he didn’t.
The NFL Draft is less than two weeks away, and the Vikings will improve during that event. Yet, right now, per Seifert’s observations, Minnesota is starting to get a little offseason recognition, which is rare to date.
Most sportsbooks currently peg the Vikings as an eight or nine-win team.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. 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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