Can the Vikings Turn the Season Around?
Ali Siddiqui
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The Minnesota Vikings won 21-13 last week at Carolina for their first win of the season.
At 1-3, can this team turn it around? Perhaps, but they have a tough schedule ahead and have already lost two games they should have won.
Can the Vikings Turn the Season Around?
Losing to the Philadelphia Eagles on the road in week two was expected by most, but the home losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Chargers were expected to be wins and were not.
An upset at Philadelphia was nearly pulled off and would have happened if they had one less turnover (they had four that game). Turnovers were a major issue the first three weeks, and they did have two last week, too, but did pull off the win. D.J. Wonnum’s fumble return for a touchdown certainly played a big role.
Minnesota hosts the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs this week and then the San Francisco 49ers two weeks later. San Francisco could very well make it to the Super Bowl.
As always, they also play the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions twice. Detroit, at the moment, has the best shot at winning the North. Green Bay is not the same without Aaron Rodgers, as expected, but divisional games are usually not easy, especially on the road. Next week, Minnesota travels to Chicago, which is never an easy place for them to play. That should be a win, but the same should have been the case with the first two home games.
Can Minnesota still make the playoffs and be in the race for NFC North? Yes, they can, but they need to turn it around fast, or else things could get very ugly soon, and so far, it already has been ugly.
It would be very disappointing to miss the playoffs after making it last year as division champs at 13-4. This is not a Super Bowl-contending team. They were not last year either, despite the 13 wins, but this team is still talented enough to make it back to the playoffs, so it would be a disappointment if they do not.
If things get worse soon, you have to wonder if Kwesi Adofo-Mensah at least considers moving players such as Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter at the deadline. Quarterbacks being traded during the season is rare, but could Mensah perhaps do that or even consider it?
Signing Dalton Risner was a good move, but surprisingly, he did not see any snaps last week. Cam Akers was also added to the roster and debuted with the team last week, rushing for 40 yards on five carries.
This Sunday looks like another loss, putting them at 1-4. Maybe they will pull off an upset, but that does not look good. True, Kansas City has not looked as good as expected, but they still have a very good team, and it is hard to see them losing to Minnesota.
If the Vikings miss the playoffs by a game or two, the losses to Tampa Bay and Los Angeles will definitely be the games you can look at as being among the most costly. Last season, this team went 11-0 in one-score games. They are 1-3 this year. Not only is this team not as good this year, but the bounces are also not going their way so far. Last year, we saw plenty of bounces going their way.
This season has been off to a disappointing start, no doubt. Before the season began, this looked like it could have been a 3-1 start or 2-2 at the worst.
If they win this Sunday, it could very possibly be the beginning of a nice turnaround. However, This looks like a seven-win team at best, which would not be enough for the playoffs. They have not made it to the playoffs two years in a row since the 2009 season.
Last season proved that crazy things can happen, and maybe this team will make the playoffs again, but right now, the chances of that happening are not looking good.
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