The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Despite missing the playoffs two years in a row, the Vikings haven’t changed!
Strength
Despite the criticism of Kirk Cousins, he ran an efficient offence last season that had the fewest turnovers in the NFL. Cousins had only seven interceptions to 33 touchdowns, the best ratio of his career, and the Vikings as a team only lost six fumbles resulting in only 13 turnovers in 17 games.
When looking at the star power on this offence, keeping the ball is a key and they did a good job at that last season.
Weakness
Their defence as a whole was a weakness, ranking bottom five in the NFL in yards allowed, first downs conceded, passing yards allowed, and rushing yards allowed per attempt.
Despite bringing in some defensive help during the draft, it is hard to predict a rapid improvement out of this group.
Player to watch
In this segment I have been trying to look for some hidden gems or players that may be underrated to make a jump, but I need to talk about my favourite player, Justin Jefferson.
The third-year pro is primed for another massive year, coming off 108 catches, 1616 yards and ten touchdowns last season. With Adam Thielen another year older, Jefferson could genuinely be on 2K watch!
Who’s under pressure?
Za’Darius Smith has joined the Vikings after being squeezed out of the perennial division champion Green Bay Packers defence. Smith was injured for essentially the entire 2021 season, coming back for the playoff loss to San Francisco. Now 29 years old and coming off a significant injury, can Smith get back to his best or are his best days well and truly behind him?
Projection
The Vikings are going to be one of the teams I watch closely this year for the pure reason my podcast co-host Daz tipped them to win the NFC North. I am really excited to watch Justin Jefferson, but I struggle to see this defence making the improvement necessary to challenge the Packers.
Win-loss: 8-9
Talezassian
Roar Rookie
I'd like to start following the Vikings more closely: over the last few years I and my sons have independently sort of started following the NFL, and have ended up picking different teams. I'm a 49er, my oldest is following the Ravens and my middle son - poor soul - picked the Vikings. I feel like I have a reasonable handle on them because I'm a fan of Tom Grossi, who - as a Packers fan - has a lot of opinions about the Vikings (and not unreasonable ones either, which is why I like the guy so much)
Sheikh
Roar Rookie
Probably the busiest team in the draft, the Viks took 10 players and at one point or another had the rights to 13 other picks. The Vikings problem, for me, is that even after 10 years I'm undecided as to whether Cousins is a good QB. His stats show that he's a very good passer, but a career rating of nearly 100 should result in a better winning percentage than 50%. He doesn't feel like a QB to lead his team to 4th quarter wins (although he's done so many times) but seems to lack that charisma that inspires his teammates to turn close games into wins. There's only been 1 year since he became a full-time starter when his record hasn't been more than 1 result away from break-even; and although this is undoubtedly a talented side which I think should be pushing Green Bay for top of the NFC North, I do kinda struggle to believe that they'll exploit all that talent with Mr Mediocrity under the centre.