Here’s Our Prediction for Falcons at Vikings
With Michael Penix Jr. at quarterback this time — not Kirk Cousins, now the backup passer for Atlanta — the Minnesota Vikings will host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football.
This is our prediction for Falcons at Vikings in Week 2. A closer look at how the matchup could unfold — with scores and winners.
Last week, nearly every VikingsTerritory writer predicted a Vikings dub, sans one man, who has longstanding scars from Minnesota’s poor showings at Soldier Field in the last 30 years.
And per our weekly regular season tradition, we asked our staff for Vikings-Falcons predictions, complete with scores. Here’s the verdict.
VT Writers Predict Vikings vs. Falcons on SNF
The group believes the Vikings will move to 2-0.
Individual Score Picks from Our Writers
No contrarian in this group — the whole damn gang rolled with the purple team. These are the individual score predictions.
Dustin Baker: MIN Wins, 27-20
Sean Borman: MIN Wins, 31-27
Janik Eckardt: MIN Wins, 24-20
Josh Frey: MIN Wins, 30-27
Henrique Gucciardi: MIN Wins, 28-13
Wesley Johnson: MIN Wins, 31-20
Kyle Joudry: MIN Wins, 31-20
Adam New: MIN Wins, 24-13
Tony Schultz: MIN Wins, 30-15
Ted Schwerzler: MIN Wins, 24-18
Ali Siddiqui: MIN Wins, 30-17
Cole Smith: MIN Wins, 28-13
Last week, Johnson most accurately predicted the outcome of the Vikings’ Monday Night Football win. He chose Kevin O’Connell’s squad by three, and that was 100% accurate.
Our Cole Smith also predicted the Vikings to notch at least three turnovers this weekend: “The Vikings, who were tied for the league-lead with 33 takeaways in 2024, only forced one turnover against the Bears. Even that barely counts, as it came on the game’s final play when the Bears attempted a last-gasp series of laterals.”
“Brian Flores is going to get creative when it comes to pressuring Penix. The second-year quarterback is cerebral, but he hasn’t seen many defenses that look like this yet. It could be interceptions, or it could come from forced fumbles. But one way or another, the Vikings are going to force the Falcons to turn the ball over often on Sunday.”
Current Standings with the Season Underway
A running tabulation, have a look at almost blemish-free standings:
Henrique Gucciardi: 1-0
Wes Johnson: 1-0
Ted Schwerzler: 1-0
Cole Smith: 1-0
Janik Eckardt: 1-0
Kyle Joudry: 1-0
Adam New: 1-0
Ali Siddiqui: 1-0
Josh Frey: 1-0
Sean Borman: 1-0
Dustin Baker: 0-1
Baker’s failed prognostication, indeed, sticks out like a sore thumb — a total L.
MIN-ATL Consensus Score and Winner
In Week 1, the group rolled with Minnesota by a group score of 24-18, and the Vikings won 27-24. All things considered, not bad.
This go-round, VikingsTerritory writers believe Minnesota will down Atlanta by a score of 28-19.
What NFL Media Says
NFL.com‘s Dan Parr picked Minnesota to prevail and noted, “Michael Penix Jr. has had some tough luck in the early going of his NFL career, losing his last three starts — two in overtime — despite leading drives to put the Falcons in position to tie the game in the last two minutes of regulation in all three contests.
“I’m just not sure his luck will change against Brian Flores’ defense in Minnesota. If J.J. McCarthy has indeed put his shaky start to Week 1 completely behind him, the game could boil down to how Penix handles the blitz. No team brings extra rushers at a higher rate than the Vikings since Flores was hired before the start of the 2023 season (45.7%).”
It’s worth noting that second-year outside linebacker Dallas Turner will start in place of the injured Andrew Van Ginkel, who is in the league’s concussion protocol.
“Penix fared well against the Buccaneers’ blitz in last week’s loss, but his performance in those situations since entering the league (yes, it’s a small sample size) has left something to be desired (1:1 TD-INT ratio, 58.3% completions, 79.8 rating on 48 dropbacks),” Barr added.
“Now, if big-time disruptor Andrew Van Ginkel (concussion protocol) doesn’t play, that would be a help to Atlanta’s cause. Flores is about as good as it gets when it comes to scheming up pressure, though.”
The Vikings and Falcons will play primetime in the night window against each other for the first time since 1981. Contrary to popular belief, the 1998 NFC Championship kicked off at 11:30 AM CST on that godforesaken day.
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