Ok, it’s preseason prediction time. Here is how I see the Vikings’ season playing out this year:
Week 1 @GB: On the road, nationally televised game, LOSS (0-1)
Week 2 IND: Home opener against Manning et al., LOSS (0-2)
Week 3 CAR: Carolina’s strength is the run, we stop it, WIN (1-2)
Week 4 @ Ten: Titans have a poor passing game, we stop the run again, WIN (2-2)
Week 5 @ NO: Great passing offense gets the best of our average at best secondary, LOSS (2-3)
Week 6 DET: All Day is too much for Shaun Rodgers-less run defense, WIN (3-3)
Week 7 @ CHI: Chicago always plays us tough at Soldier Field, they win in the snow, LOSS (3-4)
Week 8 BYE
Week 9 HOU: We squeak out win at home vs. surprise team in AFC, WIN (4-4)
Week 10 GB: They won opening night, we get revenge in HomerDome, WIN (5-4)
Week 11 @ TB: We haven’t won in Tampa since the 80’s, I guess Vikings don’t like pirate ships, LOSS (5-5)
Week 12 @ JAC: Jacksonville defense too tough on the road, LOSS (5-6)
Week 13 CHI: Bears offense might not score this week, WIN (6-6)
Week 14 @ DET: Vikings get a season sweep of the lowly Lions, WIN (7-6)
Week 15 @ ARI: Tarvaris passes fansy all day vs. weak Arizona defense, WIN (8-6)
Week 16 ATL: Jared Allen flusters Matt Ryan all day, WIN (9-6)
Week 17 NYG: Giants are 7-8 at this point and out of the playoff picture with nothing to play for, WIN (10-6)
10-6 record is good enough to win the division, but not a first-round bye. Vikings will win the wild card game, but fall short of making it to the Superbowl. The team is set up nicely to make a legitimate Superbowl run in 2009.
Ok, I am on record and would love to have everyone with an opinion lay out thier game by game predictions below. I think the Vikings have a team that can beat any team any day, but we got a tough draw this year playing the AFC South which affects our record. If we were playing the AFC East, for example, I think we would have one more win this year, which would mean a first round bye in the playoffs. Where do you think I’m right and where am I wrong? Let me know WHY, don’t just say ‘you’re an idiot…’ or ‘Green Bay blows!…’
Go Vikings!
6 responses so far ↓
1 Ross Marrinson // Sep 8, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Pretty negative, Ben!
Here’s how I see it:
Week 1 @GB:
2 Ross Marrinson // Sep 8, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Week 1 @GB: AP’s angry over last year’s 34-0 thrashing, and comes out strong. TJack throws a bunch of play action in the first to weaken the 8-9 man fronts for AP. One or two 30 yard passes, and Peterson’s in for a big day. Win (1-0)
Week 2 IND: Colts are angry over yesterday’s debacle at home. Wayne torches our secondary, and Addai runs wild on turf. Freeney hassles T-Jack all day. Loss (1-1)
Week 3 CAR: We stop the Stewart and Williams, and sack Delhomme four times. Win (2-1)
Week 4 @ Ten: Young runs for 75 yards, but Sharper covers Crumpler well throughout. Win (3-1)
Week 5 @ NO: Madieu Williams still out. Brees torches our secondary for 300+ yards, and Bush has 200 total yards. Loss (3-2)
Week 6 DET: At home, we underestimate Kitna, and Williams, Johnson, Macdonald, and Furrey kill Cedric Griffin and Tyrell all day long. Loss (3-3)
Week 7 @ CHI: Forte’s worn down by now, and when Orton realizes he Devin Hester is his top wide receiver, he faints, leaving Rex Grossman to come in. He promptly throws four picks in the first half. Win (4-3)
Week 8 BYE
Week 9 HOU: We pressure Shaub all day. Closer than it should be, but AP wears the Texans’ D down in the fourth. Win (5-3)
Week 10 GB: They lost at home, they come in needing a win to stay alive in the North. Ryan Grant runs for 125 and two scores. Jennings and Driver run all over the newly uninjured Madieu Williams. Loss (5-4)
Week 11 @ TB: Shut down Graham, and Garcia throws three picks. Win (6-4)
Week 12 @ JAC: Del Rio knows the Vikings too well. Garrard throw for two and runs for another. Williamson drops six passes in the first half, and is cut shortly after halftime. Loss (6-5)
Week 13 CHI: Lovie Smith might not show up. Win (7-5).
Week 14 @ DET: Revenge. Vikes win by 30. Win (8-5)
Week 15 @ ARI: Revenge for Nathan Poole and the 2003 last-second loss. Win (9-5)
Week 16 ATL: Win (10-5)
Week 17 NYG: I think we win with a division title on the line. Edwards sacks Manning twice, but a Will Allen int TD makes it interesting in the fourth. Win (11-5)
Without the first five games (or a different five games), we’re a 12-13 win team. I still say the Cowboys are the cream of the crop in the NFC.
Thoughts?
3 Ben The Professor // Sep 10, 2008 at 9:11 am
First of all, I love the analysis of Williamson in the Jacksonville game!
Our predictions actually are not that different. We are both predicting the Vikings to go 10-5 after opening night. You have the Vikings splitting with Det but sweeping Chi and GB, whereas I have us splitting home and away with Chi and GB and sweeping the Lions. We’ve lost 5 in a row to GB, so a sweep probably wasn’t a very likely scenario. The only other difference is that you go against history again and pick us to somehow win in TB for the first time this decade.
Now that we’ve lost to GB, hopefully we are both wrong and the Vikings can squeak out an 11th win from our schedule that we don’t see, so we can be assured at least a wild card spot. However, it’s going to be tough to win 11 of 15 moving forward. The way T-Jack was constantly getting flushed out of the pocket and the way Tyrell Johnson was getting burned I think we both underestimated the losses of McKinnie and Madieu Williams on our season. If we play like we did on Monday, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that we start 0-5. All of the next 4 teams we play were much better than us last year.
4 Ross Marrinson // Sep 11, 2008 at 3:39 pm
You’re probably right. Explain something to me…how is our pass defense so poor? We’ve got Winfield, widely regarded as one of the best; Sharper, widely regarded as one of the best; Griffin, a solid — but not great — cover guy who can tackle; and Tyrell Johnson, considered by Mike Mayock to be the best safety in this year’s draft class.
Also, I don’t understand the T-Jack bashing after this game. Was he inconsistent? Yes. Did he miss some throws? Yes (that interception was just awful). Did he make a couple poor decisions? Yes.
But all in all, I thought he performed solidly. He made more than a few great, great runs. And he threw some beautiful passes that were dropped horribly (I remember one throw to a sliding Mills that went right through Mills’ hands and another to Berrian, who simply couldn’t reel it in).
Also, where is the criticism of our wide receivers? We can’t blame the QB if his wideouts aren’t getting open. This has been a problem with this team since Carter retired and Moss was traded. There is a fine line between QB play and receiver separation. If the receivers aren’t getting open, we can’t blame the QB.
Most importantly, where is the criticism of the coach? This Childressian West Coast scheme is just terrible. He supports Jackson almost to the point of absurdity, and then doesn’t allow him to be a playmaker. How does he expect Jackson to develop when he hold the offensive reins so tightly? Plus, the play-calling throughout that game was simply abysmal. Calling a 4-yard out pattern on 3rd and 8 is utterly idiotic, and passing on 3rd and 1 is equally stupid.
What’s your analysis for week 2?
5 Ben The Professor // Sep 12, 2008 at 9:31 am
Ross, I don’t really understand all the Jackson bashing either. Tarvaris and Rodgers had the exact same number of passing yards (178) and each had one touchdown. Rodgers has been widely praised all week and T-Jack has been written off by many. The only substantial difference in the game was a kick return touchdown. If the quarterbacks would have had the same stats but we would have won the game by a kick return touchdown the headlines would be ‘Rodgers fails to step outside of Favre’s shadow’, or something like that. That’s just a reflection of how fickle fans and ’sports analysts’ are.
As sad as I am to say this, I think that our pass defense is mediocre because our linebackers are overrated. We only gave up one long pass play all game on Monday, and it was covered well (granted we should have had a safety back there.. oops.) All the other passing yards were underneath. We played mostly cover-2, so a lot of those yards were a result of linebackers not covering their areas well. E.J. and Leber are elite at blitzing, and E.J. is very good at stopping the run. However, I don’t think Leber, E.J. or Greenway are above average at covering the pass. Greenway is probably the one who is the most likely to cover the pass well because of his speed, but if you’re running the wrong way it would behoove him to be much slower. When was the last time you can remember a Viking LB batting down a pass? For me it was Ed McDaniel, and I think Dewayne Rudd knocked one down too, but then we got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty because he did the throat slash move afterward.
In addition, our corners are terrific tacklers and move well, but they tend to get a little lost on double moves, especially when they don’t have safety help, which is always a little dicey. Tyrell might be the best rookie safety, but safety is a thinking position and I’m not looking forward to his mental matchup with Peyton this week. Do you remember seeing Darren Sharper cover a pass last week? You probably don’t because A-Rodge never even threw to that side of the field, why would he? It’s like when Deion Sanders played for the 49ers, you saw him like twice a game, and both times he was going the other way for a touchdown. Not that I think Sharper is as good as Deion, but why would a QB even throw to that side of the field, especially when the other side of the field has Gordon and Johnson covering Greg Jennings?..
Also, I’m going to hold out judgment on the receivers for now. Al Harris and Charles Woodson are probably in the top 2 or 3 CB tandems in the league, so I am anxious to see if Berrian can get open better against the Colts. The key to the game on Sunday is to stay in the game. We will be able to run the ball practically at will, but if we don’t get touchdowns and the Colts do, we won’t be able to catch up very easily. I think that if we get to the 4th quarter and are still hanging around we will have a good shot at winning the game with our defense and running game. If we are down 10 or so, we’re dead.
One issue I have with Jackson, which I didn’t have until I heard Rodgers’ post-game, is that I don’t think he is ‘heady’ enough to become a top-tier QB. In Aaron’s post-game he was talking about using his eyes to move safeties and calling audibles based on defensive formation. In 2 years I have heard Jackson use the words ‘eyes’ or ‘defensive formation’ a total of once, and he was talking about Troy Williamson. I know that just because he doesn’t talk about it doesn’t mean that he’s not thinking about it, but he could definitely silence the people that say he’s not smart by breaking down publicly what he’s thinking about when he’s playing. Just my thoughts.
I still think we lose this game, unfortunately. The Colts are a Superbowl team this year, and I think we’re a Superbowl team next year. Freeny vs. Hicks, Manning vs. Johnson, T-jack vs. Bob Sanders… not ideal.
Here’s hoping I’m wrong!
6 Justin Wader // Sep 23, 2008 at 8:03 am
I think this is pretty accurate but minnesota will beat jacksonville putting the vikings to 11-5 winning the division. I will put them in the NFC championship but loseing to the Cowboys.
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