Popular Site Ranks Vikings among NFL’s Worst Teams in 2023
You won’t find too many NFL pundits believing the 2023 Minnesota Vikings can replicate their 2022 body of work.
In fact, most slate the Vikings for automatic regression from a 13-4 record a season ago.
Popular Site Ranks Vikings among NFL’s Worst Teams in 2023
And last weekend, Pro Football Network took the lack of enthusiasm about the Vikings to a new level, ranking Minnesota as the 13th-worst team in the business heading into 2023.
The Vikings won the NFC North for the first time in five years last season, but nobody seems to care, and most NFL heads firmly assert the club is heading for a middling year. Oddsmakers plop the Vikings in second place via NFC North forecasting with 8.5 wins, handing the baton to the Detroit Lions, a team that hasn’t won the division since 1993.
PFN’s Dalton Miller revealed his post-minicamp NFL power rankings on June 17th, and Minnesota lived behind the Carolina Panthers (No. 20) and Washington Commanders (No. 19), if that can be believed.
Miller defended the Vikings underwhelming positioning, “The Minnesota Vikings are going the wrong way with their roster, but every move they’ve made has been by design. They’ve traded or released most of their veteran pieces and could move on from Danielle Hunter before the season starts as well.”
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is smack dab in the middle of his ‘competitive rebuild,’ a strategy irritating some as the Vikings refuse to conform in an all-in camp or a tank for assets.
“The Vikings could still end up winning the NFC North, but they’ll need Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth Jr. to take massive developmental leaps, and one of Mekhi Blackmon or Akayleb Evans must contribute. It will be fascinating to see how Brian Flores’ aggressive defense plays in Minnesota,” Miller concluded about the Vikings 21st-in-the-NFL placement.
Last year, the Vikings were considered meh, too, but later won 13 games, the NFC North for the first time since 2017, and lost at home to the New York Giants in the postseason’s Wildcard round. Those who perceived the Vikings as blah rejoiced at the latter. Their prediction was redeemed.
And fast forward one year, we’re doing it all over again, pegging the Vikings with the exact same forecast heading in 2023 that followed the team in June of 2022. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Miller ranked the Kansas City Chiefs (No. 1), Philadelphia Eagles (No. 2), and Cincinnati Bengals (No. 3) in NFL heaven for 2023, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (No. 30), Los Angeles Rams (No. 31), and Arizona Cardinals (No. 32) evidently destined for utter failure.
The Vikings host the very Buccaneers to start the season on September 10th.
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 Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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