We are sitting at 3-1 going into the bye. We are in second place in what might be the toughest division in the NFL and the Vikes being 4-0 is a surprise to me considering what has gone on there over the offseason.
In our 4 games, our offense has looked sharp in one of them. Our defense has made a play when they needed to, but there is still plenty of room for growth there. Our team health… acceptable.
I hated having a bye in week 5. Thought it was a bad draw to be honest. But with where things are, I love the early week to get some time for recovery before we get ready to take off.
We still have some holes. All teams do. But there is enough talent to make a serious run here. We are poised to get wins. We are poised to go on a run. The offense finally clicked. As long as it stays dialed in, we are going to be a right pain in the @$$ for the rest of the league.
Teams are giving us their best shot. Stafford and the Rams played their best ball by far. The Bucs D was awesome against us then horrible V. the Broncos. The Cards destroyed the Rams and fought us hard before getting destroyed by the Commanders. The Seahawks were impressive. They came to play.
These wins are not lucky. We are taking over games on both sides of the football. We are also doing stupid shit too. Campbell cost us the Bucs game. The safety late on Monday. Goff bad INT V. the Bucs. Losing containment V. Mayfield.
This team isn’t playing awesome and that is great news. Your best ball needs to be played late, not early. The Vikes are hit now but can they win games when they get figured out by their opponents?
I feel like the last 4 games were like preseason, because the starters didn’t play before. Last game was them simply creating a script and sticking to it. The loss to Tampa Bay was their wakeup call. We literally said this is what we are going to do now try and stop us.
I pretty much feel the same way.
I also have felt like the offense was still a bit hung over from last season. And they are now just getting fully engaged. I 100% believe that once teams get to where they are thinking playoffs and Super Bowl that the early part of the season the team lacks focus sometimes. And then it takes a loss to get them going.
This team has what it takes to win it all for sure. Now they just need to stay healthy and make the big plays when needed come playoff time.
For me I am toggling between they may just crush the league to maybe just grind it out to the Super Bowl but I see them in the big game this season. They just have that something. Hard to believe that this has happened this quickly.
The Vikings have really good coaches, I don’t think they’re a fluke.
But I also think their lesser roster will eventually start to show, like it did 2 years ago when they lost at home in the playoffs to the Giants. Kwesi just hasn’t built a very good roster.
Aaron Jones’ body will break down for some part of the season. I does so with regularity and I have to believe with his advanced age it will again. Not that they can’t win without him but if he misses 3-4 games I could easily see that translating to a couple losses. I think they’ll finish 11-6. I still worry a bit more about Green Bay bc I think they’re more talented.
I have family in Minnesota and am friendly with quite a few Vikes fans as a result. Also, in general they’re more pleasant to deal with though that might be a “Minnesota nice” thing. They are by far my least hated of the three rivals.
GB is annoying because the team is so good but the fans are decent humans. Although they carry some arrogance it is kind of understood based on the last 25 years.
Minny has always been a bit of the friendly bridesmaid to Chicago and GB.
Lets be fair. Most Midwest fan bases are decent. The exceptions to that rule IMO:
OSU football fans are asshats to the extreme
Chicago professional sports teams fans are in general asses
PSU football fans are super annoying
UM football fans are arrogant but otherwise just annoying
I mean that is kind of it. Browns fans are pretty decent and Cincy fans are also decent and not overly crazy.
Literally the only fan base I find to be unacceptable are the OSU football fans. Especially if you go watch a game down there. They produce some of the worse examples of human behavior around.
You have to leave the Midwest to really find nasty NFL fans. The whole East Coast produces a solid pile of steamy crap as far as fan bases. I would have to spend some time ranking the fans bases but Philly would be up there.