Vikings Assigned Horrific Outlook from ESPN
The Minnesota Vikings are on tap to be the worst team in the NFL — says ESPN’s Seth Walder’s simulation model.
Vikings Assigned Horrific Outlook from ESPN
Oddsmakers, on the whole, believe the purple team will win about six or seven games this season, which begins Sunday at the New York Giants, but that directly contradicts Walder’s simulation.
Walder claimed Minnesota would end up with next year’s first overall pick, a bittersweet prediction for a squad that lost its rookie quarterback to a torn meniscus three weeks ago. “There was hope, back in the halcyon days of September, that quarterback Sam Darnold would finally figure it out after spending the 2023 season with Kyle Shanahan before playing in Kevin O’Connell’s scheme in 2024,” Walder wrote this week. “How naïve we were. Darnold did not, in fact, figure it out. The Minnesota Vikings’ offense crumbled while the rest of the league came up with adjustments to defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ relentless blitzes.”
The Vikings haven’t been awarded the draft’s first overall pick in 56 years.
“The result? A paltry four-win season,” Walder added. “But with the losing came hope in the form of the No. 1 overall pick. With their quarterback already in hand — J.J. McCarthy is the QB of the future here, despite his right meniscus tear — the Vikings enter the offseason in position to deal the No. 1 pick to a QB-needy team for a series of selections that will bolster the roster for an immediate turnaround. The present is bleak in Minnesota, but the future is bright.”
If Walder’s simulation played out in real life, the Vikings would fire up their worst season since 2013, the end of the Leslie Frazier era when they finished 3-13.
Most NFL forecasters and Vikings fans don’t expect the club to be this bad. The playoffs may be off the table because of the concern over Sam Darnold at quarterback, but four wins is a brand new ball of wax.
Walder added about his model, “The Washington Commanders — who also won’t be in the quarterback market — have the No. 2 pick. The Carolina Panthers, who might be ready to move on from quarterback Bryce Young after finishing 5-12, have the No. 3 selection and are a contender to trade up to the No. 1 spot.”
If Minnesota seized the first overall pick — it probably won’t — general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah would be virtually guaranteed to trade down and stockpile assets as J.J. McCarthy is already in the house as QB1. Some teams will likely covet a quarterback, like Shedeur Sanders of Colorado or Carson Beck of Georgia.
The betting market claims the New England Patriots, not the Vikings, will be the league’s worst team with four or five wins.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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