NFL.com Pegs Vikings for Lowly NFC North Finish
Dustin Baker
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The Minnesota Vikings finished the 2022 season with a 13-4 record under a first-year head coach.
One might think that inspired praise or excitement for the future among the who’s who of football analysis, but it absolutely did not.
NFL.com Pegs Vikings for Lowly NFC North Finish
The Vikings somehow became one of the first teams in NFL history where wins did not matter, and instead, folks chalked Minnesota’s fancy division title up to luck and called it a fluke.
That’s where we’re at with the 2023 Vikings now, too, as oddsmakers predict Minnesota to win eight or nine games this season.
NFL.com is the latest entity to predict an underwhelming 2023 campaign for the Vikings, choosing the Detroit Lions to win the NFC North, the Green Bay Packers apparently second, Minnesota at third, and the Chicago Bears in the basement.
Twenty NFL.com personalities forecasted the Lions to win the division, nine for Green Bay, three for the Vikings, and two believing in the Bears to go from rags to riches in a single offseason.
NFL.com’s Marcas Grant explained his Lions theory, “Last season, the Lions adopted Dan Campbell’s feisty attitude and nearly made the playoffs. This season, with a just a little bit of defense and an Aaron Rodgers-sized void in Green Bay, they can finally restore the roar in Detroit.”
Detroit is the trendy pick to win the NFC North — by an overwhelming amount of pundits. Because the Lions prevented the Packers from reaching the postseason in 2022 and because they appeared on HBO’s Hard Knocks, folks believe they have a front-row seat to the Lions emergence. Perhaps they are correct. We shall see.
The Vikings have one tactic to avoid a third-place finish, and it isn’t complicated. It’s defense. Somehow, the club won 13 games in Kevin O’Connell’s first season with a defense that ranked 30th in points allowed and 31st in yards allowed. Accordingly, 2022 defensive coordinator Ed Donatell was dismissed four days after the playoff loss to the New York Giants, and Minnesota hired Brian Flores in February.
Flores will be asked to “do more with less,” as the Vikings said goodbye to experienced-but-expensive veteran defenders like Eric Kendricks, Za’Darius Smith, Patrick Peterson, and Dalvin Tomlinson in the last six months.
If the Vikings can nudge the defensive performance closer to the middle of the pack — not the bottom tier like 2022 — they can contend for another division crown.
Otherwise, NFL.com and others may be correct about second or third place.
The Vikings kick off the regular season in 10 days at home versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and are expected to win by 6.5 points.
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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