Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings' schedule is out and we're picking every game

Episode Date: May 12, 2023

Matthew Coller analyzes the Vikings' schedule and picks every game. What's the Vikings' final record? When are the toughest parts of the schedule? What's the surprising win and loss of the year? What's the best road trip? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to a very special episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here. It is our schedule release show. So the Vikings just dropped their schedule along with the rest of the NFL. Although the leaks throughout the day on Twitter, I guess if you wanted to have it be like Christmas Day, then you needed to stay off social media where everybody sort of showed you the presents before you got to open them. But if you did stay off social media and you're just finding out now, well, then this is going to be a lot of fun. So we're going to go through every single game, give some comments on each game, give picks on each game.

And of course, everybody watching live on YouTube, your heckling is welcome. But I want to warn you, every single pick is absolutely correct. It is a lock guarantee. So there's no reason to critique any of my decisions. No, I'm just kidding. We'll have a lot of fun analyzing each one of these games. On the whole, just kind of to start us off, I think it's a very balanced schedule. There isn't one section where I went, oh, no, that's going to be really tough.

The middle of the schedule, I think, has an opportunity for them to win a lot of games. And toward the end, there's no going to Soldier Field at the very end of the season or going to Lambeau at the very end of the season. So that's nice. But it is a little weird that they play Detroit, then Green Bay, then Detroit again. I mean, I guess since the NFL decided to go with the playing within the division, it was inevitable that they would have situations like this where you would play a division opponent two times in three weeks. But that is a little bit strange.

And I guess we're going to have to wait a long time to see whether the Lions are for real or not, because that could ultimately determine what happens with the Vikings playoff status, not to ruin how I have picked these games or anything, but if they are fighting for the division, those two games could be super, super important. So I think that the hard games, the big games are pretty well spread out. The buy is late this year, but I think that the Vikings would prefer it that way. If you're a team that thinks you're going to make the playoffs, then you would rather have the buy later as opposed to earlier so you can get back to 100%

health. But they are going to play a lot of weeks in a row before they get to that week 13 buy week. Also, shout out to the schedule makers. Get my respect for putting the Vegas game in December. Thank you so much for doing that. I appreciate you. I'll definitely be going to Vegas to cover that game. And I am excited to do so in December, along with the rest of Minnesota, by the way. And I remember seeing Mark Davis say something about being tired of having other teams' fan bases take over that stadium. And guess what, buddy? When it comes to December, I think it's December 10th,

Minnesota fans are absolutely taking over that stadium in Las Vegas. That's going to be a lot of fun, and maybe we'll set up some sort of party in Vegas for all of us purple insiders. So let's, let's get to it, man. Let's get into this schedule. This is always one of my favorite days of the year to put it down on paper, and then we'll see where it goes from here. As we've mentioned on the show a number of times, there's still things that could change with the Vikings with their roster and everything else and so my mind is open to change on this on where I pick them in terms of W's and L's which games there's going to be people who get hurt there's going to be different storylines that go on throughout the year but I love getting it

down on paper for the first time so pick along with me at home as you can, and we'll have a lot of fun here. So why don't we start out with the Vikings against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, of which the Vikings are already a seven-point favorite for this game. The Buccaneers are not expected to be a very good team. They're a team in transition,

and they have to come to US Bank Stadium to start the season. That one I will be picking absolutely as a W for the Vikings. Baker Mayfield is their quarterback. The last time Baker Mayfield was at U.S. Bank Stadium, he did win a super ugly game with the Cleveland Browns, but he was also terrible in that game. So not that I think that's going to carry over to now, but just the point being that Baker Mayfield is their quarterback. And I think that they are a rebuilding team post Tom Brady and the Vikings. I mean, there is a debate here with the opening game because last year the Vikings got to play the Packers in the opening week and they beat the Packers and you just couldn't have asked

for a better start to the Kevin O'Connell era like here's your biggest rival new coach all the drama plus Rodgers did not have Devante Adams so he was adjusting to the new wide receivers and I think that that did help the Vikings and benefited them a little bit also the Packers didn't seem to know what to expect from O'Connell's offense that may have helped them a little bit. Also, the Packers didn't seem to know what to expect from O'Connell's offense. That may have helped them a little bit. So do you want a more exciting opponent or do you want one to get a win to start your season? Or does it scare you a little bit when you're facing a bad team because the week one results are always super random? I mean, was it week one or week two last year where Chicago beat San Francisco and the muck and then Chicago won like two other games,

the whole rest of the year. We do see this from time to time that happened with Jacksonville and week one or week two, when they won one or two games with urban Meyer, one of them was early in the season. So maybe it makes you a little nervous, but I think it's great to start the season out with a bad opponent to get rolling, especially because the Vikings don't play their players, their starters in preseason. So I'm going to go with a win. There's not a whole lot else to say

about this one, but just in terms of key matchups, I wrote down a bunch of key matchups for each game and the interior of Tampa Bay's defensive line is kind of worth keeping an eye on here. Vita Vea is a great player, had six and a half sacks last year, and they also drafted Kalijah Cansey. So the Vikings interior offensive line that is going to be talked about a lot during training camp, you know, it's going to be tested right away by this Tampa Bay team. So I think that it is helpful for Brian Flores' defense to not face an offense that's expected to be great.

But for the Vikings offense, we're going to kind of get a sense right away has Ed Ingram taken that step forward that he's talking about. Ezra Cleveland coming into his fourth year, Garrett Bradbury coming back in free agency. These are the guys who have been much maligned over the years. So they'll get tested right away. But I think that is a real key to winning that game. So I don't have a lot more to say about

Tampa Bay. So I'm going to save that for the better games. Week two, the Philadelphia Eagles. I have to go with an L here. I have to go one and one for the Vikings. The Philadelphia Eagles, I have to go with an L here. I have to go one and one for the Vikings. The Philadelphia Eagles were in the Super Bowl. And even though they did lose some players, they also loaded up on some players. They are a dominant team in the trenches still. They're bringing back that whole offensive line. They even added to their defensive line, got tougher. I think that's going to be really tough for the Vikings.

Plus, they are a great running team. And this is where I think the Vikings' biggest weakness is on the roster, aside from having an inexperienced secondary. And oh, by the way, they have an inexperienced secondary, Devontae Smith, A.J. Brown. This is not a great matchup early in the season. And not having a whole lot of time to really get into it yet. Philadelphia, they've played in that system. Jalen Hurts, and he's kind of gotten better each

year. So I don't love this on a short week against Philadelphia either, especially with a Vikings defense that's making adjustments, learning a new system and all that against an offense that had all the last couple of years to really get down. So I think this is a pretty tough matchup to go to Philly on short rest after week one. I mean, playing Tampa Bay is a nice benefit in week one, not feeling like, wow, you've got to go back to back, but you would have liked the entire week to prepare to play Philadelphia. And one thing, so Dustin asks why they always play in Philadelphia is, I don't know. I don't know. It was kind of like how they used to always go to Seattle.

And there was some reason for that that I never really investigated. And it does feel like they're always going to Philadelphia. In 2019, Philadelphia came and played the Vikings. That was the game where Diggs roasted some cornerback a bunch of times, had a crazy game. That was one of Kirk's best games. That is the thing that Kirk Cousins did not play well last year at all in Philadelphia, but the time before that in 2018 that he played there

and in 2019, he played really well against Philadelphia so it's tough to say but that team is a juggernaut and also probably going to be pretty healthy at that point that's the one thing that can always shift around these matchups is the injuries but if Philadelphia is at 100 on short rest you got to give them a pretty big advantage here. And they, you know, they reasonably deserve to be talked about as the, you know, presumptive favorite for going to the Super Bowl and the NFC, because at least at this moment, they are the strongest team in the NFC. Everything's subject to change, but it will be, you know, you get a national TV game right off the bat, or is it Amazon? Do we count that as national TV? But, you know, you get a national TV game right off the bat. Or is it Amazon?

Do we count that as national TV? But, you know, kind of right off the bat. But it's like gas pedal down into your season after week one going right to Philadelphia. So I'm going to go Vikings start out one and one. And we go on to a matchup that I'm very, very excited about in the Los Angeles Chargers. Now, I don't understand what the Chargers put on Twitter with some meat and Pop-Tarts to represent the Vikings. I don't really understand where that came from. If anybody saw that, you know what I mean, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But Justin Herbert, this will be the second time the Vikings have faced

him in his career coming to Minnesota. Kellen Moore is their offensive coordinator. And Kellen Moore has been a problem for the Minnesota Vikings. I mean, Dallas, we saw what they did last year. But almost every time they faced Kellen Moore as an offensive coordinator, Dallas did really well against the Vikings. And there is certainly an argument. And Nathan says he's expecting a loss in that one. There is an argument for that one being a loss. I just, I think that this is one

where the Vikings have, well, one, they have an advantage that they're coming from Los Angeles to here, that Herbert has never played in U.S. Bank Stadium before. And I think that there is something to that for people who have not been in U.S. Bank Stadium. It may have actually helped, I don't know, Daniel Jones the second time when he came and beat them in the playoffs, but it feels like that is a tough thing to do. Come from the West Coast and play in a stadium

you haven't played before. I do think that this is going to be a tough test for the Vikings secondary, but I also am not convinced that Brandon Staley has all the answers on, on that defense in Los Angeles. We got a revenge game right away, by the way, Eric Hendricks revenge game against the Vikings. But, uh, this is one where I think this is a pretty big swing game. Um, you know, where, you know, if they don't win this one, and as I was going down the W's and L's, this was one where I thought, this is actually going to be

one of those kind of low key, big games for them, because then you got some other opponents coming up, not the very next game, but Kansas city's on the way. And some other opponents where if you get this one, you get off to a pretty hot start before you face some of the better teams. This was a really tough one to pick because I kind of view both teams as in that like not quite elite tier, but in the next tier down in their conference. So I don't think that the Chargers are as good as Kansas City or as good as Buffalo, but I do think that they're probably one step down from that. I just, I'm given the slight edge here to O'Connell versus Staley. That's that O'Connell understands Staley's defense inside and out. They work together in Los Angeles and with the Rams. And I think that he understands that defense really, really well, even from working with Ed Donatel last year.

And by the way, Staley was kind of touted as this genius coach, and we haven't really seen that yet. So I don't trust the Chargers, basically. So I am giving the Vikings a win. But as I give each one of these, it's like there should be a confidence meter. Maybe I'll just do something with my hands for the confidence because beating Tampa Bay is like, okay, pretty, pretty high confidence on that. Losing the Philadelphia, pretty high confidence on that. This one, 50-50 pick. I totally flipped the coin on this one

because I think also just historically, these two teams are looking at each other in the mirror. They've had kickers miss field goals in the playoffs. They've had all sorts of things go wrong for them. They've always been good, but not quite good enough to get to the Super Bowl. So, yeah, I think you could talk me into either way because you can definitely talk me into Kellen Moore being behind Justin Herbert now and them being a more aggressive passing game. And look, the guy got fired by the Cowboys, and all he did was have top five offenses. So if he can bring some of that over,

and before, of course, their receivers who always get hurt. So if you face them before their receivers get hurt, they might be a little different. But yeah, I'm very much on the fence on that one. But I'm giving the Vikings a two-in-one start to begin the season. And then they go to Carolina and they face Bryce Young, another revenge game. We get back to back revenge games, Adam Thielen. They will go face him at Carolina. And this is a great time to face a team with a rookie quarterback.

First quarter of the season, I think for a rookie quarterback is super, super difficult. You know, just learning what the NFL is like. And then you have Brian Flores, who is going to throw every blitz ever invented to man at Bryce Young. So we're going to get a look at him and his playmaking skills because I think he's going to be running for his life a lot. I don't think that Adam Thielen is likely to torch the Vikings secondary in this game.

And when he's got to be one of the top weapons for Bryce Young, they just don't have a lot to work with on the offensive side. Carolina, I think does have good defense though. They have a lot of talent on defense for sure. So, you know, I do, I don't think that they're like the easiest opponent in the entire world. I don't think they'll win two games or something, but it's hard to predict with a rookie quarterback. But they have enough defense.

I mean, last year, their quarterback situation was horrific, and they still found a way to win a handful of games just based on their defense alone. So they have talent. I don't think it's just the easiest win in the world or that I've ever seen them have. But if you're going up against a number one overall pick quarterback, here's when you want to do it right off the bat of the season before that guy gets comfortable. So I think this is a pretty decent start for the Vikings schedule.

Two teams that I think decidedly they should win one extremely difficult matchup and then one kind of 50-50. But I would say I'm pretty confident about them going to Carolina and winning and starting off the season three and one and if they do that then we're talking about okay it's kind of on like this is a competing team you should be competing in the division and I think that that's a fair expectation is to be two and two three and one survive the first part of the season because the middle part I think has some games that they can win. But I don't know that you guys will love all of my picks in the middle. So I guess we'll see because these next couple of games

are interesting to pick. Well, let me put it that way. So you have Kansas City. Sorry, everybody. We're going to go with an L there because Kansas City wins all the time. And last time I checked, Patrick Mahomes is still the quarterback. Isn't it amazing though, that Patrick Mahomes has only missed like what, two, three games in his career since he began starting. And one of them was against the Vikings in 2019. And that game ultimately impacted Kansas City and their home field advantage status and them going to the Super Bowl. So, you know, kind of funny about that.

But I don't think this is one where we need to talk a whole lot about it. I mean, Kansas City every year is competing for the Super Bowl with Patrick Mahomes. They are the best team in the NFL. They're only going to get better, by the way, because they had a great draft last year. A lot of their rookies played. And now those guys are going to be taking steps up. They've added to their group of weapons. They've added to their offensive line. I mean, it's a, it's a pretty good team there. It's a pretty good team. I think if there is anything that offensive line still can have some weaknesses to it, but my homes just seems to make up for everything and anything when it comes to that.

This one also inexperienced cornerbacks, even if the Vikings cornerbacks get off to a good start, let's say, you know, Caleb Evans, Andrew Booth Jr., Byron Murphy, and even maybe Louisine is playing at that point. And those guys are rolling through the first couple of weeks and they're very confident after a win in Carolina where they get three picks. This is not a game that inexperienced corners are going to have a lot of fun. So the best shot you have is a shootout, which the Vikings have won against good teams and could win.

I don't think Kansas City has a super daunting defense, but it's always kind of just good enough to get a couple stops. So yeah, we'll go with Kansas City there and the Vikings go with Kansas City there, and the Vikings go to three and two. And then they go to Chicago. Now, nobody get upset because this is a rule of mine. This is a staple rule of Purple Insider.

As long as I exist and the Vikings play at Soldier Field, this might change with a new field. So they're going to build a new stadium. Maybe I'll change my rule. As long as they play at Soldier Field, I will pick them in May to lose that game because historically they always find a way to lose that game. Now I know the last couple of years they have won. They beat Nick Foles the one year. Last year, Tim Boyle and Nathan Peterman were not going to beat them when the Bears were tanking on purpose. But in this one, we will have a really good sense, by the way, if Justin Fields has started off well or not by then.

So this is what makes it a little harder to pick when we're talking about things that we can't really know until right before the game. But this one, the history with Soldier Field, the Vikings struggles there over the years. I just can't pick in their favor, even though the Vikings, in my opinion, are still a better team than Chicago. But when you look at, so our buddy Kevin Cole, Unexpected Points, he does this analytical breakdown of how much each team has changed and rookies play into it, of course, but mostly free agent signings, who you've lost, who you've gained. And Chicago is right up at the top of the list.

Now, of course, Chicago was horrific last year, so they should be. And they had all the cap space, but they have linebackers now. And, you know, I guess we'll see where the Vikings running game is at that point. I'm assuming Delvin Cook's not on the team. There was another report this week that he's not going to be. There you go. But that'll be an interesting battle, though, is can the Vikings run at Soldier Field?

Has Matt Eberflus kind of got his defense going? Is Justin Fields going to run all over them? I mean, quarterbacks really did run all over the Vikings last year, but it's mostly just based on the house of horrors that is Chicago. At least they don't have to go there in the freezing cold though. But I think, was it week six or it was week seven, I think in 2000 or was it weeks? Yeah. Week seven, I think 2016 when they went there and lost that game to Jay Cutler. So mid season, you know, we'll kind of see how that plays out, but I'm going to go to, what does that make them now? Three and three.

So, uh, uh, yeah, is that right? I've lost track already. Jeez. Okay. Let's go back. So Tampa is a win. All right. We got, uh, yeah, three and three. Okay. All right. Next one is San Francisco. This is another one where I don't exactly know what to do because I think by this point at week seven, that we are going to have a really good sense for what's happening at quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. Now, Kyle Shanahan said today that as soon as Brock Purdy has his surgery, that he'll be able to come back. It's not like throwing a baseball where you need like a whole year or something. If you have Tommy John, apparently it's different muscles. I don't know how anything

works with science or medical stuff, but it looks like Brock Purdy will be back by that point or someone else will have done so well in his place that they're playing by week seven. So I'm going to assume that what we saw from the San Francisco 49ers at the end of last year is very similar to the team that they'll be playing this year. Plus they drafted a kicker. I mean, you do that like you're going to the moon, but that is a nightmare matchup for the Vikings. It has been for years. They just have a monster, monster defensive line. They have a great linebacker in Fred Warner. They have an offensive mind who just messes with every defensive coordinator,

almost no matter who he comes up against. Lots of quarterbacks have had success under Kyle Shanahan. They're a great team. Now they are coming to US Bank Stadium the last time they did that Jimmy Garoppolo did not play well and they lost to the Vikings in the 2018 opener but I'm going to have to go now with week seven and I was thinking about this as I was picking these games like okay so if they go to three and four in the middle of the season like how are we going to feel?

And the answer is we're probably going to feel like, oh no, the wheels are coming off a little bit from last year. Last year was kind of fluky. They're not going to be able to repeat it. And those, you know, those types of things. And I think that there's an opportunity here after some tough games early in the schedule to reel off a couple of wins. But San Francisco is one kind of like that at soldier field.

It's, it's one of the rules that I'm still going to pick San Francisco as long as Kirk cousins is playing against San Francisco. Now, if Kirk is traded to the 49ers, he's playing for them. I'll still pick San Francisco. So yeah,

they're getting, they're getting a, a loss there. Now they go to Green Bay and we get our first look at Jordan Love. This also falls under the same category as we're just going to know a lot more about Jordan Love by week eight than we know right now. We will know, has he looked horrendous being the full-time starter? Has he looked really good? Has he looked horrendous as being the full-time starter as he looked really good as he looked somewhere in the middle but for both of these like spoiler for later in the in the picks both of these Green Bay games as of right now I'm going to pick the Vikings to win them because I just

don't know what to make of Jordan Love but I even think that the medium outcome is that team's not all that good. So I do respect Christian Watson. I think he's got a lot of talent and their defensive line can cause problems. I mean, still Kenny Clark is still there. And I looked it up today, what Kenny Clark did last year against the Vikings facing off Garrett Bradbury. Bradbury had a good season and only one of his two horrific games was against Kenny Clark. So they just have his number. They drafted another defensive lineman.

So they could definitely get after the get after the passer. But I think that the Vikings can go to Green Bay. They're not intimidated by Lambeau Field. They've been there many times. Also, notice it's week eight. So the grass won't be slippery and having people fall all over the place, presumably. And if it is, they will wear the proper cleats. So I think they're going to get a win there.

CJ, you are right to say that if Sam Darnold is the quarterback for the 49ers, it's possible he could throw three interceptions. That is very true. I'm not going to doubt you on that one. The last time they played Sam Darnold was the most ridiculous. I think of all those 2021 games, that was the most ridiculous one. Darnold was playing horrifically. Somehow they, what, blocked the punt, got back in the game. Then he turns into Joe Montana at the end and leads a game-tying drive. Then Kirk to KJ Osborne and whatever.

Yeah. So the last time they faced him, but I think it'll probably be Brock Purdy by the middle of the season when the Vikings go up against them. So now we're sitting here with the Vikings at four and four, 500 team, and we're talking mediocrity as we always do. But this next run, the door swings wide open for them to get hot in the middle of the season because they go to Atlanta. And I think the Vikings will beat Atlanta and go to five and four. The only thing that concerns me about Atlanta is their running game is going to be ridiculous.

If Bijan Robinson is anything of what they say he is, and we've seen many rookie running backs be great right away. So that wouldn't shock me if he was, even if he's not, they were one of the best running teams in the NFL last year. And I just have a lot of concern about the Vikings ability to stop the run this year. Now, look, I mean, I wrote an article last year about Kyrus Tonga. So it kind of maybe not considered how well he played as a nose tackle. They drafted a nose tackle. They brought in Dean Lowry. But Brian Asamoah is playing in his first year,

so he's going to have a lot to learn as a linebacker, and they don't have Delvin Tomlinson's stuff in the middle. That is going to be an issue. But the thing about Atlanta is at least outside of AJ Terrell, their defense is pretty brutal. Now, Grady Jarrett did crush the Vikings last time he faced them. I think, what was that? 2019 opener possibly? Was that it? So yeah, I mean, Grady Jarrett's still there, but the rest of their defense is not very good. And I also just don't buy into Desmond Ritter at all. And I wrote about this today about the amount of quarterbacks that the

Vikings have a clear advantage over Atlanta's at the top of that list. I mean, I think that Kirk Cousins is much better than Desmond Ritter. It's inside. I don't know if they can cover Justin Jefferson, but even if they can, they don't really have people to cover anybody else in that game. So I will go with a win. The Vikings get back over 500 to five and four, and then they will go back home and play the New Orleans Saints. Now, this one is tough because as I was just talking about with the opposing quarterbacks, Derek Carr and Kirk Cousins are very similar.

So you're at five and four. This could be kind of a swing game here. And I wouldn't just throw away New Orleans as a potentially good team. And I don't mean amazing, unbelievable team, but Chris Alave last year was just starting to break out when he played against the Vikings in London, made a couple of big catches there, but really came alive in the rest of that season and put his name up, not toward Justin Jefferson, but in the range of being one of the better number one wide receivers, or at least having the potential to be going forward. So this one might be a matter of how is your defense looking at this point? Because one thing that Derek Carr has in common with Kirk Cousins is he goes up against bad defenses. He can win games. He could

put up big numbers. He could throw deep down the field and he's got a good arm. I think there's probably a motivational factor with Derek Carr this year to want to fit in and be great with that team. I'm not sure that I really trust their coach necessarily. It's not Sean Payton. It's not that offense anymore, but they have a pretty decent supporting cast. I think they do have a good defense. Their defense played quite well against the Vikings last year, but I will say the Vikings win and go to six and four. And we feel like they have right of the ship. They're going in the right direction, Huge win, emotional win against a rival that all Vikings fans can't stand. And now they go out and face Sean Payton in Denver and they lose.

And here's another pillar of me picking the schedule. And it doesn't mean these have to come true. But there's always one loss that doesn't make sense. Every year, always one. And was there one last year? I don't know, but last year was different, but there's always one loss. It seems for the Vikings where you just go, what happened? Maybe it was Dallas. I mean, Dallas was a great team, but to get run out of your building, maybe that was really the one. The just absolute no-show, what the heck is going on there? How did you lose that game? Denver has a good defense. They have an elite number one

corner. Sean Payton against a defense that's a little spotty. I think there's some advantages there going on the road. Denver is not the easiest place to play. So this is the one where I think where Denver is much more of a mediocre team and not horrible. And we kind of scratch our heads and go, okay, that was one I didn't really see coming. Plus everyone was excited from the week before. Like, you know, I've covered enough of these, these games. Oh, that's right. CJ.

Yeah. Good call. Good call. It was the Colts. It was the Colts that it was a win, but that was the one that didn't make any sense. So I've always built that into my picks is there's always one that just doesn't make sense. And I think Denver is going to be that one that doesn't make sense.

So, I mean, other than that, I just couldn't pick Carolina as the one or Tampa Bay is the one. I think this is the one. So now they're six and five and we're going,, man, we thought you were good and you weren't. Because that's how it goes, right? Like you get a big win. You go, oh, they're contenders now. Then they lose.

And we say they're not anymore. And we bounce back and forth. And that's what makes football great. So they're six and five. And Chicago comes here. And they beat the Chicago Bears at US Bank Stadium. The only thing that concerns me is how freaking fast Justin Fields was on the US Bank Stadium turf, but he also takes a lot of sacks. I don't know that that's ever going to really change and their defense is better,

as I mentioned, should be better, but this is the turf. This is not the soldier field sliding around garbage mess that is that field in Chicago. This is U.S. Bank Stadium turf, U.S. Bank Stadium noise. And I usually pick them to split in the division. And historically, that's mostly what they do. So we saw that with Detroit last year. A lot of times, even with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, they would still split. They often split with Chicago. So that's the way I decided to go. And once again, so we're having a season here by my picks where the Vikings kind of lose you

and then pull you back in and then lose you and pull you back in. So where will it go the rest of the way? Let's find out. find out so i mean i think we all agree on that chicago one though chicago really has to prove that they're going to be better than anything except for a mediocre team i think that they've handled themselves well in their rebuild but they are not a serious contender for this year i think that they could be at best at absolute best like detroit was last year middling fringy team that isn't actually all that good. So the Vikings are now seven and five going into the bi-week. We all get a little bit of rest and then we go to Vegas and we have a great time. And look, I don't do a lot of partying myself,

but I love Las Vegas. It's going to be warm. There's a lot of things to do there. There's the gangster museum. If you're going, make sure you go see the gangster museum. It's pretty awesome. So this is going to be a fun time for everybody. And I think it's going to be a fun time for the Vikings. Number one, what are the odds? And you can't predict injuries, right? What are the odds that Jimmy Garoppolo is healthy by week 14? I mean, he's just been banged up every single year. So Devante Adams still there. Their defense is a mess. When we look at opposing team secondaries and you go, oh really? You've got actually a revenge game here. Amir Abdullah is on this team. Also Duke Shelley. A lot of you are upset about Duke Shelley leaving. So if he gets a pick, I know people are going to lose their minds.

Duke Shelley, Marcus Epps is on that team. He was drafted by the Vikings. They let him go, played with Philly. Now he's in Las Vegas. But when those guys are kind of key features of your defense, you're going to have a pretty tough time covering Justin Jefferson. So there might be 40,000, 50,000 Vikings fans who fly to Las Vegas and see Justin Jefferson go for 200. Neon Museum. Okay. I've never been there. I'm going to check

it out. I'm going to go out early. Look, this is what we do. I'm going to go out early. I'm going to go a few days early and spend some time in Vegas. I've already planned this out. This is what's happening. If you guys like Brian Murphy on the show, we already talked about it. He's going out as well. This is great. This is just great. December 10th in Vegas. Thank you so much. But also a big game for the Vikings because now they're eight and five after they beat the Vegas Raiders and Josh McDaniels is on the hot seat, possibly fired already. We'll see. I talk about people that you don't believe in as a head coach. His track record, I think strongly suggests that the Vikings will have a coaching advantage in that game as well. So eight and five, and then they go to a

less exciting city to see in December. I am sorry if anybody lives in Cincinnati, that's one that I am less enthused about aside from watching Joe Burrow play football. And he's very good at it. And I don't know, that's a tough one because if you're ranking AFC teams and we all know how strong the AFC is, they're right up there. It's just, it's Kansas city. It's Cincy it's Buffalo. Like that's's that's your big three in the afc and this is going to be you know that team in kind of peak form having the whole season like i don't know that if if they get lucky with some injuries maybe but if joe burrow's playing in that game it's probably an l and that's what makes this schedule tough i mean you're playing all the mvp candidates from last

year playing jalen hurts you're playing patrick mah Mahomes. You're playing Joe Burrow. So that one, but yeah, I think, I think Ken, you said it well, you'll be watching that one from home at the, on television, not flying and partying in Cincinnati. I had a good time. The last time the Vikings played their week one, 2021, it was really nice weather when I went. So it was okay, but I doubt it will be in December. So now the Vikings are sitting at eight and six. We are in the thick of the race. It is all coming down to this folks. Are they going to return to the playoffs or are they going to choke as they face Detroit, Green Bay and Detroit? So after this two game road trip where they split with Vegas and Cincinnati,

they come back home to play Detroit and they beat Dan Campbell's Detroit Lions. And you know, I, uh, no starlight chili. Is that what it's called? Skyline, skyline chili, right? Um, you know that i may have told the story before but when we were there in 2021 at halftime they served the skyline chili and i just passed i was like i'm not doing that there's there's onions and just a huge amount of cheese and i was like no no way for me chad graff courtney cron, a bunch of the other reporters just plowed through this skyline chili. And I don't think they had a good time covering the rest of that football game.

And it was a great game down to the very end. Crazy overtime and all that. But they were not in good shape stomach wise. And I was doing fine because I just had a hot dog. So there's my Cincinnati skyline chili story. I didn't eat it. Uh, so anyway, the Vikings played Detroit in week 16, and I think that they will win against Detroit. Uh, this is one where we're gonna only know by week 16, whether the Detroit hype was real. And look, if you go through their roster, it's very hard to say,

aside from a quarterback injury, oh, this team is just all fluff. They have a lot of players who are young and in their prime. Usually when a team is overhyped going into a season, it's because they signed some old veterans. Remember like the Philadelphia, we're going to be, I forget what they called themselves, like the all-star team or something. They signed a bunch of guys to go along with Mike Vick, but Vick kind of got old all at once, fell apart, you know, and all that. And they underachieved, but this is usually with rising teams, unless there's a young quarterback, we can pick these out. We can see when teams have drafted high year after year. But I think this is a good comparison actually, Ken, that Detroit is going to be Dallas

like. I could definitely see that where are they a real contender for the Super Bowl? I'm not sure, but they have a very good team and a very good offense that's run by a pretty flawed quarterback. And Jared Goff has really been good against the Vikings in his career, but he's also prone to the bad mistake, the crazy play, the strange fumble, the weird interception, whatever. So if I had to guess, I would say that Detroit is a good team, but the Vikings are also at that point a good team and they get a win there against Detroit. And it's a big one and we are celebrating it. This is huge for the Vikings. They are now nine and six. They go to green or they stay home to play Green Bay. And Green Bay

at that point is talking about who their quarterback in the draft is going to be. I mean, maybe, right? I don't know. Could be. Are we picking Caleb or Drake? Maybe that's going to be the discussion. Or Spencer Rattler, if he's good this year. I don't know. So the Vikings 9-6, they go to 10-6 as they play the Green Bay Packers at home. And I mean, it really is impossible to say what Jordan Love's going to be at that point. This could be a huge game. This could be one where those two teams are jockeying for position to win the division. I don't think it's insane to think Green Bay could be in that conversation, but the most likely outcome with Green Bay, I think, is like a 7-10 team, and Jordan Love is just okay. That's the most likely, and that's what I'm kind

of going off is what I generally think of the team and what the most likely scenario is. But, you know, he could very well be good. History has been on their side with the quarterbacks, so I'm not really sure. But I will go with a win at home. Usually I would have the Vikings split with the Packers, but that's when they had Aaron Rodgers. So now the Vikings are a 10 and 6 football team and they are playing Detroit. Let's just say they're playing Detroit for the division, Ford Field, the Motor City, and they lose.

But they'll still make the playoffs at 10 and seven. I mean, it's one of the Detroit games Jared Goff's going to go off because they have a really good offense. And one of the things about Detroit and playing them at the end of the year, and this goes under, there's lots of stuff, and it's probably a whole other show, things we can't predict, how good Jamison Williams is going to be. So he's going to miss the first six games

with that very bizarre gambling suspension, but he's going to have nine, ten games to ramp it up before he plays the Vikings twice. Amin Ross St. Brown is great. He crushed them last year. They've got some other weapons. Marvin Jones has been a Vikings killer in the past. I think it's very fair to say that the Vikings in Detroit will split these games. I don't know which is which I just went with the home games, but I think it's fair to go with a final record of 10 and seven and the Vikings making the playoffs in a rollercoaster season where we thought they were good, thought they were bad, pretty sure they were good. Oh no, a letdown. And then at the end, they're in the playoffs. And then we'll see from there. This is a, This is a good question from Stephanie.

Will the Lions be called frauds at any point like we were last year? I wonder. They only, yeah. Well, what kind of record would mean that they were frauds? I guess is probably the question is like if Detroit goes 10 and 7 also, based on all the hype that they got this offseason, were they frauds or just like maybe a little overrated? If they miss the playoffs,

if the Vikings are playing a meaningless game in week 18 because Detroit is missing the playoffs, then yeah, they were big time frauds. If they don't come out of the gate fast, they will get called frauds. That's what I think. That would be another circumstance. Will they get called frauds. That's what I think. That would be another circumstance. Like, will they get called frauds at any point? I think there's a decent chance they

will. I mean, they're going to start off with Casey, right? So that's not good for them. If they, if they went to like one in three to start the season, of course, season's not over. And with 17 games, there's a long way to go. But you would absolutely have people on TV going, the Lions were overhyped. They were frauds. And then we'll see from there. Because what were they? One in six last year and almost made the playoffs.

So it's very possible that they are still a good team, but don't quite live up to the expectation. We also have to consider it's the NFC though. And there are a lot of bad teams. So if have to consider it's the NFC though. And there are a lot of bad teams. So if they kind of fall on the right side of the schedule, they get a third place schedule because right. Because, uh, is that right? Or were they ahead of the second place schedule? Now I'm forgetting, but they missed the playoffs last year. So maybe they got a little easier schedule than the Vikings do. Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, I would guess if I had to guess, will some commenters scream into a TV camera at some point that they are frauds? Probably yes. Probably yes. Because anytime we hype somebody up, that usually ends up happening. So I want your guys' reaction in the comments. 10 and 7, fair or not fair? Better or worse?

Thumbs up, thumbs down way which way do you think should i have gone different uh do you think i'm a fool here i mean i i feel like i could have gone hotter with some of the tapes i could have put down maybe some more losses maybe some more wins i think there is some variance on this team that isn't as wide as last year was going into it because we knew so little about what Kevin O'Connell was going to do. But I think this is the thing that I've learned from Mike Tomlin. And I don't want to say Kevin O'Connell is Mike Tomlin yet. Okay. Because there's a little bit different resume, but there's this standard you get to, or a bar that you reach as a head coach of competency, if not good, that kind of guarantees you, you're at least going to be in the mix as a decent team.

And if Kirk Cousins is healthy and Kevin O'Connell is competent and good, then I mean, you're probably eight and nine to 11 wins is where you're at. So, and yeah, feel free everybody throw, throw your records up there. I'll put some of them on the screen here. Uh, Ken has eight, nine. I think that's totally fair. There's a few games there chargers games specifically where I really haggled over new Orleans. I really haggled over like, is that one where they kind of have a letdown? We'll see. Uh, let's see. Nathan's got 10 and seven, but got there in a different way. Feel free to tell me what games you had different than mine. E felt has nine and eight. I mean, we're all

kind of living in, in the same spots here. And this is a thing that's hard to know from Deontay here. If Zadarius and Daniil are both gone before the season, we're looking Caleb Williams in the face. I don't know. As long as they have Kirk Cousins, I don't know if they could get Caleb Williams. I mean, I don't think you could ever be that bad unless Kirk got hurt because we've seen that, right? We've seen them rank 27th in defense. We've seen them rank as one of the worst pass rush teams in the league, and you still have enough offense to beat the bad teams and be right in the middle uh from horse feathers 10 and 7 is reasonable thank you appreciate that with a healthy team of course i mean you know that's why these things change is because and that's why we pick the

schedule multiple times we're going to do another uh schedule pick the schedule show for sure throughout the summer uh in training camp you know because there'll be new news or people will get traded or whatever. Let's see, 10 and seven, five and 12 at worst. Yeah. I mean, that's, that is the thing is I do think that potential exists. It does. And I'll tell you the one, the one way that they could end up five and 12, because I think that the schedule is, is got enough teams with average quarterbacks. So it's not like, you know, like Jimmy Garoppolo, for example, if he's playing, he can, he can beat you. He's not perfect, but he's good enough to win. If they start off poor and all that culture stuff starts to come apart a little bit, if there's that maybe talk, and this is what happened in Washington in 2017,

kind of the talk about Kirk's contract. Maybe there's some distractions there. Maybe there's some finger pointing there. That is possible. I don't expect it. I just think they have too much talent, but I, it is possible that it could be that whole, everybody was all in on the culture last year, but as soon as things start to crumble, they start pointing fingers. This guy's not a leader, whatever. We kind of have seen that happen a little bit in the past. So, you know, um, it's, it, it, I, five is probably the worst you could possibly be. Uh, Deontay, if they start poor, will they trade people away before the deadline this time? I believe they will. And that is what job security does for you is if they were to start, let's say they lost the Tampa Bay, something random, you lose the Tampa Bay though, all of a sudden it gets hard. Cause

you've got Philly and Kansas City right there. So then maybe you're only talking about one win or two wins in that start, and it looks pretty ugly. I do think they would. They would consider that. Now, how much they can get at the trade deadline, it's not like hockey where you see teams just shred their whole roster and trade away everybody. But still, yeah, I think that this team, based on where they are with Kevin O'Connell and Kweisi Adafo-Mensa, their jobs are

not on the line this year. They would have to implode in ways that we've never seen before with the Vikings in order for anybody to lose their jobs. I don't think that's going to happen. Even if they won four games, these guys are in charge. They earned themselves enough cash after last year that I don't think that the Wilfs would react. So if they did have a bad season, I think that they would start to trade people away and play it long-term. I also got a little bit more confidence in their direction and in Kweisi Dapho Mensah with the way that they handled the draft, which I thought they drafted the right positions, right players for the future. And so far, at least with Kirk's contract, I didn't love the giant void year thing for next

year and would have preferred that they just kind of played out the contract and let it be what it is and just be rid of it. But on the whole though, like not extending cousins, doing some things that leaves them open in the future. I think that, you know, they've handled things pretty well and that they would be smart in that situation. Can't guarantee it, but I think that's very possible. Nathan has Eagles, Chargers, Chiefs, 49ers, Saints, Bengals, Lions as losses. Yeah, the Saints and Chargers were the only ones

where I really thought for quite a while. And I know it doesn't make any difference. Like what I'm picking as them right now, because there'll be very different by the time. But I thought those are pretty equal teams. Yeah. Those are pretty equal teams. CJ, the one in five from a few years back, Kweisi would clean house. I think so. I think you're right. And now at that time, how much could they have gotten back for a Riley reef or for a, was it Kyle Rudolph or whatever?

I don't know, but they really should have done it. Or even Kurt, like could they have traded Kirk at that point? Like think about when we do alternate histories, if in 2020, they traded away, Kirk tanked. I mean, maybe we are

talking about some different history for the Vikings for where they're at right now, but they would have never done that because their careers were on the line. And then I think that Spielman and Zimmer saved their jobs by winning a bunch of games in the second half of the season and getting in the hunt. So yeah, no, Timothy, you're right. That Kweisi is still cleaning up the bad contracts that Rick Spielman handed out. And that is the thing. When you mismanage your timeline, it's not just a small impact. It is a long-term impact when you do that.

And yes, we are still feeling that way. So any final comments on the Vikings schedule? I would say just a general in general, I like the way that it plays out. I think that it's very balanced throughout the season. There's exciting games early, middle and end early, of course, the Philadelphia game. And look, you know, we're assuming right now we're all picking an L, but if they beat Tampa Bay and it looks, you know, decisive and everything, that'll be pretty exciting to jump right back into it on a Thursday and go out there. And plus there is one, one positive to that is if you're playing on Thursday night in

week 14, your team is pretty freaking banged up, but it's the beginning of the season. Like everybody's pretty fresh. And then you get that pseudo little bi-week or like a couple extra games or a couple extra days before you go to week three. So that might end up benefiting them, but it is, you know, Scott, this is a good point. It's a lot of road games. It's a lot of road games. Nine road games, four championship game teams. Yeah, it's my 10 and seven record is assuming that they are coached well, that Justin Jefferson has a great year, that Brian Flores has an impact. And I think all those things can happen. But there is another universe where you lose to all the championship weekend teams.

You struggle on the road. Your young corners don't work out or get hurt. And you're playing, you know, kind of scrubs that you picked up off the street and there's nothing Brian Flores can do. Remember, I have a lot of respect for Brian Flores, but his first year when the dolphins were literally trying to tank, like their owner actually tanking, I mean, they were like the worst defense in the league. I mean, there's only so much that a defensive coordinator can do. So, you know, uh, Nathan can't be that hard of a schedule for predicting 10 and seven. No, I think it is. I think it's a pretty hard schedule on its face. I just think that that's kind of where they're at as a team is that, you know, they can win a lot of these games, but there are more coin flips than there probably were last year,

where they faced teams like Chicago was literally tanking. That's two wins. Arizona, one of the worst teams in the league. That's a win. You know, they faced the Jets in Miami without their starting quarterback. So you never know how that's going to happen, but I do think it is a pretty difficult schedule. I also think that they have a decent team. They have a 10 and 17. So I guess there's probably, is there a right process for picking a schedule? Probably not. I just went game by game and thought of what the expectation should be, but it probably stuck in my head that I have them as a 10 win team. And so I found 10 wins. I guess I'll cop to that. But I think that that's what they should be. That's what they should be. And that's even

with losing those games to the championship weekend teams. So anyway, yeah, this was really fun. This was really fun. And we're going to do more breakdown. I'm already creating a, for the podcast tomorrow, a little bit of a schedule survey with Will Raggetts from Sports Illustrated. So make sure that you check that out when that video or podcast goes up, depending on which way you like it. But this was really fun guys. I'm glad that so many of you could come in, watch and interact and give me feedback to all of these 100 accurate perfectly predictive picks that we have made here today but i think that this is what the fair expectation for the vikings is this year they are transitioning a lot of their roster they have a new defensive coordinator and

they have enough weaknesses to lose a handful of games they have enough strengths to win a handful of games and then it might all come down to which way those one score games go this year. How does Greg Joseph kick? How are the special teams? Are they ridiculous like they were last year or, you know, the, the, some things go wrong. So, uh, you know, but either way, it'll be fun for us to lead up to and lots of fun things to talk about throughout the summer. I'll be doing a lot of these lives on YouTube as well throughout the summer where you guys just ask questions and we have a good time. So make sure you keep an eye on the channel and we will catch you all soon. Thanks

again, everybody for coming by. Appreciate it.