4 Bold Predictions for the Remainder of Vikings Season
The Minnesota Vikings have joined the league’s Top 7 Super Bowl odds, a totally wild occurrence after Minnesota was expected to win about six or seven games in 2024.
4 Bold Predictions for the Remainder of Vikings Season
That’s the perk of a 5-0 start. Minnesota will try to extend the streak this weekend at U.S. Bank Stadium against the rival Detroit Lions.
So, with 12 games left to go and the bye week in the rearview, let’s get some bold predictions on record. Reminder — “bold predictions” are designed to be out there and a wee bit outlandish.
1. The Vikings Play the Falcons in the Playoffs
Because of gridiron poetry, the Vikings will face Kirk Cousins and his Falcons twice this season — once in the regular season on December 8th and about a month later in the postseason.
Atlanta has a 74% chance of reaching the playoffs, according to DVOA, and Minnesota is situated around 90%. Cousins will return to U.S. Bank Stadium twice in 2024, and the second time will be in the Divisional Round of the tournament.
The Vikings better beat him.
2. Will Reichard Misses Just One Kick All Year
Will Reichard has performed perfectly through five games, making onlookers realize why general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah spent a draft pick on a kicker.
Some bemoaned the selection last April.
Reichard will remain close to perfect for most of 2024, but he’ll miss one kick — as to not repeat a 1998 situation when Gary Anderson was impeccable in the regular season but snakebitten in the NFC Championship.
The rookie specialist will miss one kick in the next two months, and then that’ll be it.
3. Kevin O’Connell Wins Coach of the Year
If the Vikings finish with a record of 11-6 or better, O’Connell will take home Coach of the Year bacon.
And he’ll deserve it. He lost his rookie quarterback to injury in April, his rookie cornerback to death a month before that, and his coaching profile has widely entered the Top 10 among his peers from a national viewpoint.
O’Connell is the COTY frontrunner through six weeks, and he’ll hang on.
4. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah Trades for DT Jeffery Simmons
Back in March and April, retaining the 2025 1st-Round pick was such a precious assignment because nobody expected the Vikings to be any good.
Now, they’re good.
The way it’s trending, Minnesota’s 1st-Rounder will check in around the 20s. With that in mind, Adofo-Mensah will trade his 1st-Rounder to the Titans for defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, who could be offloaded by the trade deadline.
Simmons can then solidify the guts of Minnesota’s defensive line for the next half-decade, perhaps better than any 2025 draft pick.
Adofo-Mensah makes another splash at the deadline. The T.J. Hockenson trade worked out marvelously in 2022.
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 MIN 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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