The Vikings Need to Be 4-4 by Halloween
The Minnesota Vikings lost their first Week 1 home game with fans in attendance since 2005 on Sunday.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Vikings in that season, so history repeated 18 years later.
The Vikings Need to Be 4-4 by Halloween
Now, Minnesota stares down the task of evening their 0-1 record on Thursday night at the Philadelphia Eagles, a frontrunner to visit Super Bowl LVIII. Hell, the Eagles nearly won the Super Bowl last year.
And while stranger things have happened than Minnesota righting the ship and scoring an upset triumph over the Eagles, most Vikings fans, NFL experts, and oddsmakers don’t believe the Vikings have the muscle to pull off the trick.
If the Vikings do not win in Philadelphia, it certainly isn’t ideal, but the club really has to find its footing after the Week 2 showdown. In fact, to exist in a preferable spot, Minnesota merely has to own a 4-4 record by Halloween.
For context, here’s the Vikings schedule (home games in red):
- Week 1: Buccaneers (9/10) — LOSS
- Week 2: at Eagles (9/14, TNF)
- Week 3: Chargers (9/24)
- Week 4: at Panthers (10/1)
- Week 5: Chiefs (10/8)
- Week 6: at Bears (10/15)
- Week 7: 49ers (10/23, MNF)
- Week 8: at Packers (10/29)
- Week 9: at Falcons (11/5)
- Week 10: Saints (11/12)
- Week 11: at Broncos (11/19, SNF)
- Week 12: Bears (11/27, MNF)
- Week 13: BYE
- Week 14: at Raiders (12/10)
- Week 15: at Bengals (TBD)
- Week 16: Lions (12/24)
- Week 17: Packers (12/31, SNF)
- Week 18: at Lions (1/7)
If everybody is correct and the Vikings lose on Thursday night, Minnesota must find four wins in these games: vs. LAC, at CAR, vs. KC, at CHI, vs. SF, and at GB.
What’s special about Halloween? Well, nothing. However, the schedule opens up thereafter, at least per non-murderous opponents. Should the Vikings find .500 footing by the end of Week 8, they’ll face: at ATL, vs. NO, at DEN, vs. CHI, at LV in fairly optimistic shape.
That’s five winnable games, and if the Vikings are actually a playoff-caliber team in 2023, should nudge the club from 4-4 to 9-4, 8-5, or 7-6, depending on just how efficiently the team plays by the start of November.
From the moment the schedule was released in May, the first section was always dicey. It was never going to be fun to play the Eagles, Chargers, Chiefs, and 49ers in six weeks. The appalling aspect is that most Vikings fans — this website included — didn’t calculate a loss to the Buccaneers when sizing up the schedule.
If the Vikings can get over the vs. LAC, at CAR, vs. KC, at CHI, vs. SF, and at GB hump with an even-steven win-loss standing, at ATL, vs. NO, at DEN, vs. CHI, and at LV are just what the doctor ordered to gain momentum.
Minnesota must beat the Panthers and Bears — like, for sure — and then find two more victories from the LAC-KC-SF-GB platter.
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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