The Minnesota Vikings are coming off of a 13-4 season and opinions are mixed on them with many having them as contenders to win the NFC North. Touchdown Wire’s Jarrett Bailey doesn’t think they are contenders, as he ranked them at 22nd overall in his preseason power rankings.
I can understand being low on them considering how poor the underlying metrics were at times, but 22 is crazy low. Here is Bailey’s reasoning behind it.
The Vikings’ offense will remain fun with Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson still tormenting defenses, along with the added threat of Jordan Addison joining the fray. However, two things prevent me from seeing Minnesota as a playoff contender- they aren’t winning 11 one-score games again, and their defense is still horrid. Brian Flores may help the issue, but this isn’t a one-year fix. Even in an up-in-the-air division, I think the Vikings take a step back.
Taking a step back makes some sense, as they won’t go 11-0 in one-score games. They also aren’t going to be blown out in all of their losses again nor will they have poor underlying rushing metrics or go three and out 58 times.
The one thing about regression that people don’t often realize is that you can show growth in the same way. They aren’t all of a sudden going to be worse in every unstable metric that was really good and stay the same in the metrics that were bad. This is a situation where you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
What’s even worse is the Chicago Bears were ranked at 19, three spots ahead of the Vikings. Yes, you read that correctly.
The Bears feel like a team that will take a step forward. They did all the right things in the offseason, notably adding D.J. Moore to a receiving group that previously consisted of three mops and a drawing of Muhsin Muhammed. They added both Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards to clean up the middle of the field, and most recently signed Yannick Ngakoue to be their predominant edge rusher. It all comes down to Justin Fields becoming a more efficient passer. With a bolstered group of receivers, and improved offensive line, that leap is justifiably expected.
The Vikings are going to prove a lot of people wrong this season.
