Dec 4, 2022; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports.
The 8-5-1 New York Giants trek to Minneapolis for a date with the Vikings, and they’re using an unusual tactic to prepare for Kevin O’Connell’s team.
According to Pat Leonard of NY Daily News and Sports, the “Giants are pumping the Vikings’ SKOL chant into practice today.”
That’s right. The rallying cry used by Minnesota and its fans is being “screened” by Giants coaches and players to prepare for the Week 16 showdown. About three to four times during every Vikings home game, the team leads its fans in this chant:
And the Giants evidently want to be prepared for it, as the club must believe it carries some type of advantage for the Vikings on gameday. The Vikings ownership adopted the Skol Chant from Icelandic soccer years ago and made it their own. It’s a mainstay of Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium experience.
The odd part about the Giants “preparing” for it is that Vikings fans don’t do that chant during gameplay. They fire up the chant before the game, after halftime, and heading into the 4th Quarter. Someone in GiantsVille must think the chant creates boisterous homefield advantage while plays are ongoing — or something like that.
New York doesn’t have too much at stake this Saturday at Minnesota. Per FiveThirtyEight, the Giants have an 87% chance of reaching the postseason, a probability that climbs to greater than 99% if they stun the Vikings. On the other hand, New York’s odds of joining the playoff tournament only fall to 83% if it loses to the Vikings. Everything changed for the Giants on Sunday night when Daniel Jones and Co. toppled the Washington Commanders in Landover.
For the Vikings, well, their quest this weekend and beyond is keeping hold of the NFC’s No. 2 playoff seed. Minnesota must remain one win ahead of the San Francisco 49ers. If they do not, San Francisco will be gift-wrapped the No. 2 seed while the Vikings fall to No. 3. But thanks to Minnesota’s herculean comeback against the Indianapolis Colts, plus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers flummoxing loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Vikings cannot mathematically fall any farther than the No. 3 seed. It is locked in.
While the Giants navigate the apparently-deadly Skol Chant, Vikings fans will be donned in all white. Per a promotion, the Vikings brass has asked fans in attendance to wear all-white, creating a “white out” effect on Christmas Eve. Penn State University has utilized the ploy in the past, and it’s pretty nifty to the eye.
Meanwhile, the Giants haven’t beaten the Vikings since 2013. Vikings faithful will remember the game well — in a bad way — as Josh Freeman was at the helm as quarterback. Minnesota took a flyer on Freeman — for one game only — and he was woefully inadequate. The experiment didn’t last long.
The Vikings are favored by 3.5 points to defeat the Giants.
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 Sal Spice. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).