Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings' schedule is out so let's pick every game

Episode Date: May 13, 2022

Matthew Coller and Paul Hodowanic pick every game on the Vikings' schedule. What will their final record be? Which games do Matthew and Paul disagree on the results? What are the hardest games to pick? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, welcome to the Vikings actually have a schedule podcast Matthew Collar here along with Paul Hodwanek of WCCO radio Paul we've got football games in order to discuss which is sort of funny because we had all the opponents but once they're in an actual order then it feels very real how are you Paul yes I I can feel the football I am ready I am ready to talk about these games, and I'm excited. Are the Vikings going to go better than 9-8, Matt? Let's find out. Let's find out. All right, so week one, we'll get right into it.

We will go game by game, talk about the biggest storylines, and give our predictions. I have also ranked these games on the website by their difficulty, so if you want to go check that out, please do. Green Bay Packers could not start out with a better opponent for Kevin O'Connell to debut at U.S. Bank Stadium. Get it out of the way right away. And also, Paul, I think it's good from the perspective of

maybe Aaron Rodgers is doing the same thing he did last offseason. Like maybe he's partying in Hawaii with more celebrities and is not going to come out and set the world on fire. I mean, in 2020, he did against a bunch of rookie defensive backs for the Vikings. So I guess maybe that theory doesn't hold up very well. But last year he played extremely poorly early in the season and then took a while before he got going. From an atmosphere perspective, everybody will be jacked up for the new coaching staff, a new era here in Minnesota. I think that the Vikings couldn't have drawn it up any better.

You know that you have to play Green Bay twice. How about make one of them at home right off the bat? Yeah, there's never a good time to play Aaron Rodgers, but I think playing him first when he doesn't have Devontae Adams, when he probably hasn't played a ton of training camp games or the preseason games with the new wide receivers, I think that's probably one of the best times to play him. But I do think the Vikings just coming out of the gate with a new offense, a new defense, a new head coach,

lots of moving pieces. I think they might start out of the gate a little slowly. The Packers, although they have a lot of similar changes on the defensive side of the ball where they lost a couple guys and obviously they don't have Devontae Adams, I still think the continuity with their head coach, with Aaron Rodgers, is an advantage that the Packers have over the Vikings. I'm sure they're still going to be pissed about the way they lost

in the playoffs to the 49ers. And it just feels like first game of the new regime era. It's just a tough one, O'Connell, to go into. Just a very emotional game against your biggest rivals right away. And it just feels like one where the veterans maybe come out and beat the new guys. And so I'm going to say the Packers here, but in terms of when you get them on the schedule early is best.

This game, the stadium is going to be rocking and there will be opinions flying no matter the outcome as this will be the first game we can judge in the new coach. There isn't a more polarizing opponent to face right away. Yeah. It certainly felt that way in 2020 that because of the way that it went, you know, it was like, is the season over already week one? And like, no, but wait that is bad and has a new coach also, as opposed to Aaron Rodgers and Matt LaFleur, who at least during the regular season are quite the machine

over the last few years, 13 wins each season. But knowing that you've got to do it at some point, I guess there's an argument for, well, do you want Kevin O'Connell's offense to be humming like a machine? Or you could also say from the other perspective, Kevin O'Connell gets weeks and weeks to prepare for the green Bay Packers. Whereas if they played them in say week seven, then it would have to be like, Oh, we just played another team. You get your two days. Not in this case, not in this case, they get as much time to draw up whatever they want.

And the other thing is too, green Bay is going to be relying on some rookie players to play big roles in their defense. And I think that that might matter for them. They had a decent defense last year. The Vikings pretty much shredded it at US Bank Stadium and will look to do the same thing again. I'm going to go with a W here.

Already my friend Chuck Aoki, who is a subscriber, already I saw it popped up DMing me saying, like, how dare you pick the Vikings to win in week one against the Packers? So I guess this is bold, but I'm going to go with it. I mean, usually they split. So spoiler alert, later in the season, when we get to the Packers and Vikings second game, I'm probably going to pick the Packers. Let's go to week two, Philadelphia, Monday night football. The Philadelphia Eagles have a really good argument for the most improved team in the NFL. Second year of their head coach. They bring in A.J. Brown.

They've set up everything around Jalen Hurts. And this is also the scene of the crime of the 2017 NFC championship. Although, Paul, the last time Kirk Cousins was in Philadelphia in 2018, it looked like it was going to be his signature win. He actually played great in Philly, took a lot of shots, showed a lot of guts in that game and came away with a win. This one, though, I'm not as confident. It's Monday Night Football, and I think Philadelphia just has a better roster, especially in the trenches. And I don't think that a new coach is changing that particular shortcoming that the Vikings have had in the past few years, that if an opposing team has a great

offensive and defensive line, you can usually pick them. So I am going with a loss and picking the Philadelphia Eagles for this one. I'm going to go with the Eagles here. I think they're going to be much improved. I think they could be a dark horse contender to win their division. But I think these first two games are a really good litmus test for where the Vikings find themselves. One and one, you feel, okay, each team, like you kind of drew blood on both sides. Oh, and two, you're not feeling great about how they stack up against some of the best

teams. Two and oh, okay, now we're moving because now we got some easier games. So I think that's kind of how this plays out. But for me, I think most likely outcome is an O and two start. Yeah, that's that would be a pretty rough beginning for the Vikings. If they do lose to the Green Bay Packers, it's going to feel like all of a sudden this is must win. And we know because we've gotten to it the last few years. If you start off O and2, it's pretty tough. If you start off 0-3, then it's basically game over for your season, which is wild to think about, but it's actually been the case historically. And so if

they go by the way that you're laying it out, then it is absolute must win week three Detroit coming to Minnesota. And, you know, this is an interesting one here because I think Detroit also falls under the category of being one of the most improved teams in the entire NFL by developing players from last year by drafting high, like Detroit has a chance to be an interesting team, but I still ranked this game in terms of difficulty 16th for the Vikings because it's week three. And because it's at home, it just feels to me like if the lions are going to improve, it's not going to be from the very start. It'll probably be as the season goes along, as their rookies get into it, that it's not going to be Detroit right away, comes out of the gate like a hurricane and starts running their way

through the NFL. I think it's much more going to be like, okay, the second half of the season, we start to say Detroit might be really good for 2023. But I think the Vikings will win this game at US Bank Stadium against Detroit. So I am picking a two and one start for the Vikings here. Yeah, and I'm also picking a win here. First to three in a row for the Vikings. You get two tough games. Detroit, I think, can be better. But like you said, I think it'll take them some time.

Their quarterback right now is still Jared Goff. And so at that point, Jared Goff at U.S. Bank Stadium facing the Vikings. The Vikings should get this one done. And if they do start 0-2, there's gonna be a lot of pressure on them to do it. I would predict if this was the scenario, they'd go out and beat Detroit big. And I think that second matchup against Detroit, much, much more interesting. This first one, it feels like one in the early part of the season with how the schedule shakes out. It's one the Vikings need to get. And I think they will.

I think the biggest thing you have to be concerned about is that last year we didn't even really discuss this all that much, but Detroit schemed very well against the Vikings offense. I know it's a different offense, but if they have a good sense for the things that slow down Kirk Cousins from what they did last year, he's not going to fundamentally change as a quarterback, even with a different scheme. And maybe you hesitate a little, but in the division, although I won't pick this way for Chicago, in the division, I think you're always pretty safe saying split with almost any team just because the teams know each other so well. And so in this case, Detroit and Minnesota know each other well, but I think the Vikings will be stronger at the beginning of the season, maybe later in the year, that won't be the same case. So they go to London, they're facing the New Orleans Saints.

It makes it harder to pick with the fact that they are in London. But I think that this is actually a really good break for the Vikings. Yes, they have recently beat New Orleans in the Superdome, but that is an extremely difficult place to play and coach. One of the toughest in the entire NFL, one of the loudest stadiums, and they're not going to have to play there because they're going to play in much more of a neutral environment. And they're playing against a quarterback who loves to throw the ball

away. Sean Payton is not the head coach of the Saints anymore. I think he was a huge difference maker. So though Jameis Winston started out five and two last year, it was pretty good. I'll say that the neutral field helps the Vikings. They go overseas and get a win in this game. Yeah, I think this part of the schedule is one that's really ripe for the Vikings to pick a few off here. They start with Detroit, then they go overseas, obviously to London, play the Saints. I agree with you. I think they can win this game and then they don't have a buy afterwards. And so but I think once we get to the Chicago game, I think that's one of the teams you feel best probably coming out with a ton of jet lag and playing at home. And so I do like this game against New Orleans. I think they have a new head coach.

You just don't quite know what you're going to get from that spot. And that has been such a consistent part of the Saints organization for so long. I think it's a big part of why Jameis Winston looks serviceable in the short amount of time he played last season before he obviously got hurt. He's still now their presumed starter. And I mean, he's coming off an injury where he's missed a ton of time. He wasn't Mr. Consistent or Mr. Reliable at any point before this. And I think now four games through the season, the Vikings have worked through their warts in terms of understanding the new coaching staff, understanding how you want to play. O'Connell has three games under his belt.

He goes over to London. It's not in the Superdome where it's going to be crazy loud. It's going to be, I don't know if this is in Wembley specifically, but in Wembley, there's gonna be tons of fans from all over. It's just going to be an interesting, weird game. And I think that favors the Vikings in this outcome. And I think this is just the point in the season where they start to get comfortable with all the changes that have happened. So I see them winning this game and kind of getting back back on track here, two and two. It sort of tells you about just how the ebbs and flows of a season matter so much, because if they win this game against the Saints, they come back home and they play a Bears

team that is pretty putrid on paper. Now, Justin Fields could shock us all. Matt Eberflus could be the next Mike Ditka in Chicago, but they do not have a very good roster. They are tearing it all down to build it back up over the next few years. And it shows, I mean, look at their receiving core and tell me how many guys that like the average NFL fan has even heard of other than Darnell Moon Mooney.

It's not many, their offensive line. Isn't all that good. And I think that the Vikings can come back if they get a win in New Orleans and feel like they are absolutely rolling because I have them getting off to a four and one start. And already we're hearing Kevin O'Connell coach of the year buzz as they beat the Chicago Bears at home. But I think that even as much as the Bears have harassed them throughout the years, this

is just not a very good team. And even if Justin Fields is playing well at this point and he's fitting better in their offense, they're doing better things for him. The Vikings just have a stronger roster than the Chicago Bears. So I have them getting off to a very hot start to the season. Yeah, I also have them winning. I mean, it's not ideal that they don't. I mean, it wouldn't have been ideal to have your bye week in week five, but it's also not ideal to come back over from overseas and not have a bye week right away and not to have even like a Monday night game

after where you have an extra day or anything like that. But if you were going to have that situation, there's not a lot of better teams you could play than the Bears at home, you know, off that, off that trip. And so I think, like you said, the bears are a mess. They're not going to be good this year. They've committed themselves to basically next year and giving it a run with Justin Fields on that rookie deal. They get tons more cap space that opens up next year. They're still paying Nick Foles. They're still paying Andy Dalton. I believe a little bit this season as well. So

the bears are a mess. They're going to be a mess. They have still paying Andy Dalton, I believe, a little bit this season as well. So the Bears are a mess. They're going to be a mess. They have clearly taken the approach of this is going to take a while. And so I think the Vikings should win this game. I mean, considering how they both obviously move on from their GM, move on from their head coach this season, and they're taking two different approaches. Bears are tearing it down to the studs.

Vikings obviously aren't. And so this is a game where you have contrasting styles and the Vikings should win based on the approaches they've taken this off season. And I think they will, despite maybe jet lag, despite kind of a weird week that that'll be transitioning back from London over to the bear or over to playing the bears at home, obviously. So I have them just slightly worse than four and one, three and two, but I think that opening stretch, I think they have a chance to start out nicely and to kind

of make a statement against some teams that are in similar tiers to them as the Eagles and the Saints. And then they have another one of these teams coming up this next week where I think they can really, will really understand where they are maybe in that tier two, tier three conversation. So I have them going to Miami and losing because I think this is where it really catches up to you is you have to go over to London and play a tough NFC team. It is a division opponent when you return. And like you said, you don't get that break and then you have to go South into,

excuse me, into the weather, which is probably extremely hot still in Miami by the time they get there. And this is a team that has actually been really great at home over the last few years, 11 and six over the last two seasons at home. They have Toronto Armstead now. they have Tyreek Hill. Now I think it's like one of the places because Miami has not been relevant. That is never talked about as, Oh, wow. That's a tough environment. But I think that the weather, the humidity playing on the, the yucky grass is like, I think that these things do add up to being difficult. And though everything is about the quarterback in the NFL, the roster top to bottom for Miami is very strong.

It's really like Philadelphia where it's all about, can the quarterback rise to the occasion? But I am going to say that in this case, the Miami dolphins do, especially with their new offensive minded head coach. And this is, this is one of two battles of Kevin O'Connell and a former San Francisco coordinator that they're going to face on this schedule.

So I'm going to go with the Vikings taking an L here against the Dolphins and dropping to, let's see, I had them at 4-1, 4-2 by week six. Got it. So this one for me was the first win in a game that's kind of a toss up, maybe not leaning their way. I think they beat Miami. and a lot of that is I don't really believe in Tua very much. I don't like what we've seen the past two years. The Dolphins' social media team's trying to get us hyped about him by putting out a clip of him underthrowing Tyreek Hill.

I'm not really sure the strategy on that. But I understand going south away game different climate but i simply just think the vikings are better and mostly because of their quarterback i think her cousins is a superior quarterback to tua tua has not impressed me in these recent games and i think mike mcdaniel although a media darling is going to have many of the same issues that kevin o'connell is just you know getting a new team up to speed. And I, he, I don't know, I am of the coaching hires. He wasn't one that I was a huge fan of. Uh, and so because I don't believe in him as much as I believe in Kevin O'Connell and because I could believe in Kirk cousins more than two, uh, I see them. They've already won

three games in a row. They're feeling themselves a little bit. They go down to Miami. Justin Jefferson gritties in South Beach. He scores a couple touchdowns, and they roll into that Arizona game feeling really good. So I have them at a win, but we both now have them at 4-2 at this point in the season. Then the bye week comes week seven, and Arizona comes to Minnesota. Now, I ran across a really fascinating statistic here about Arizona, which is that Kyler Murray is actually quite a bit better on the road than he is at home for his career, which I was very surprised by. And there's kind of a big enough sample size to wonder if there's something to that. I don't know what exactly it would be. Maybe it's more nerves at home. I really don't know. But what we can ascertain is that he's not going to be rattled by going on the road because his

numbers are much better. They added Hollywood Brown. DeAndre Hopkins will be back at this point. So yeah, they, you know, they'll still be adjusting to getting him back into the lineup, but he's got a six-game suspension. This is kind of a bad break for the Vikings. And I think Arizona, though, like you were saying about Mike McDaniel, Cliff Kingsbury has not exactly won everyone over. At the same time, this is a team that should be competing for a division win. They are pretty stacked from top to bottom, a team that maybe you could say is a fringe Super Bowl contender, a little bit better than the Vikings. I think that Arizona wins this game.

The Vikings go to four and three. Okay. I don't know. I don't know why I'm feeling this optimistic about this Viking schedule at this point, but I have them winning against Arizona. I believe Arizona is much closer to the team that we saw at the end of last year than the team we saw at the beginning of last year. I think there's some definite flaws in coaching. I think Kyler Murray, although electric has some noticeable downsides to his game as well that we've discussed in the past when we were like, Oh,

could Kyler Murray get traded? Would you be interested in giving him a max contract or a massive contract to have him come and be the Vikings quarterback? Part of me thinks they're rolling. They've won all these games in a row. They have a bye week. They have another winnable game here at home. And then they go into a grueling part of their schedule at after this point. And so I think they seal this one, they get to five and two and people are saying, wow, it was the coaching. It was Mike Zimmer. Look at Coven O'Connell go. He's just beat Miami. He's beaten Arizona. Now this team is moving. And then I think they get a little dose of reality here in this next month. So I'm going to have them go five and two, but I don't

see their winning ways sticking for very much longer. Yeah, on Arizona, for me, it's kind of about the weapons. It's like the Vikings will still have an inexperienced secondary at this point. And when you pressure Kyler Murray, he just runs away. And we saw that last year

that no matter how much in his face you are, even as well as Everson, well, it was Everson. Everson might've missed that game, but Daniil Hunter was amazing in that game. And yet he couldn't get his hands on Kyla Murray. And they have Rondell Moore. Who's an exciting weapon. Hopkins coming back, Hollywood Brown in the mix.

I think that's going to be tough for them. So we're in two slightly different places by one win, but that would absolutely be different in terms of the narrative. A five and two start, you're right. People would be saying, oh man, like Kevin O'Connell, the answer, Kirk Cousins is different. If it's four and three, I think there's a lot more skepticism.

I say that they will go to DC and beat the Commanders because even though I like a lot of players on their roster, Carson Wentz in his last 45 games has a quarterback rating of 87.3. This is not a very good quarterback. He's better than Taylor Heineke, but he's not a very good quarterback. It's not like this is a tough place to play in DC. I think the Vikings go to five and three with a victory. All right. So I just talked about them going sky high, but this is where I see their demise start. They see, okay, we can go six to two if we beat Washington. Then we have our toughest stretch coming up with the bills, the Cowboys, the Patriots. And although I am not a Carson Wentz guy at all, Washington and Minnesota were pretty similar last season

with a massive discrepancy at who was playing quarterback for both teams. Taylor Heineke was not good for Washington, and they were still right around where the Vikings were. Obviously, they play in a little bit easier of a division, but still, I think Carson Wentz can be just a little bit better, better enough, just by a hair. And I think this is a game where maybe the Vikings are feeling themselves a little bit. They've just beat Miami. They just beat Arizona.

Washington doesn't have a good fan base. I mean, they've been beaten down. Carson Wentz isn't a great quarterback. Like, this feels kind of trappy for me with them. And they have tons of talent still on the defensive side, although they regressed a little bit from their amazing 2020 to a, just an average 2021. I think maybe that comes back a little bit.

They get healthier on that side of the ball. Terry McLaurin offers maybe the best wide receiver they will have faced at this point in the season. And so I see Washington upsetting the Vikings. They have to go on the road. So I see this as a five and three team heading to Buffalo. Okay. So we've both gotten to the same place by week 10, only different ways. I am not going to, you know, like try to predict this one as if I have a real hot take. I mean, with Washington, because I think both of these teams on any given day can both be good or really bad. And if you're making the lines or you're trying to predict their final records, like Washington's a little stronger at a lot of spaces, but not so much a quarterback.

Like that's a that's a to me a coin flip game entirely. So at Buffalo, this one's not a coin flip game. This one is Buffalo. That, yeah, we'll just pick that one straight up. Number one defense in the NFL last year adds that going there week 10, it might be windy and it might be a little blustery. But you're probably looking at like halfway decent weather and not classic Buffalo snowstorm or anything like that. But still, I mean, this is a four reels Super Bowl contender. I put this down as the second most difficult game on the entire Viking schedule. Yeah, I wish I had some analysis that was super groundbreaking or anything like that. But this is Josh Allen at home. This is, I think, the favorite to win the Super Bowl this year with this team.

Like you said, Stefan Diggs certainly is going to get up for this game. And it just feels like a loss. This is kind of a brutal stretch that they're going to go through here with their toughest stretch. And I think Buffalo is a main, main reason why week 10, that's when you kind of see these teams, these really good teams start to kind of just find their rhythm. Maybe they struggle early, but by week 10, they've kind of figured some stuff out. There's tons of continuity along that team, any wrinkles, any tough stretch the offense has had by not having Brian Dable. I think by week 10, they figured that stuff out and they're going to be pushing to be that one seed, no game. They're going to be taken off at any point. And so this feels like a loss at Buffalo. If they were to win this, wow. I mean, that's a change in what we've seen from this team in a long time, but I'm just not confident that they would have a very good chance. Well, Anthony Barr won't be there to be jumped over by Josh Allen this time.

At least there is that silver lining. But yeah, I know you're right. If they were to get that win, that would be one of those signature wins of the season, but it's going to be a tough one. So back home to U.S. Bank Stadium to play the Dallas Cowboys. Now, the Cowboys have not had a great offseason. They lost Randy Gregory. They traded Amari Cooper for basically nothing.

But let's not lose the forest through the trees on the Dallas Cowboys. A, they're 3-0 at US Bank Stadium, and two of them haven't even required Dak Prescott to be playing. And also, they're a really good team. I mean, Dak Prescott was arguably a top five quarterback last year, even though he had the health issue that he dealt with in the second half of the season. And because they went out when they did in the playoffs, I think there is reason to be maybe down on them, maybe down on Mike McCarthy, who won't have the advantage of having faced Mike Zimmer a million times this time

as he goes up against Kevin O'Connell. But Dallas just seems to have the Vikings number over the last few years, and I think that they are a slightly better contender than the Vikings for a deep playoff run. If not, if not, you know, a decent amount better. So if they're healthy at that point with Dak Prescott, who has dealt with some injury issues the last few years, I will go with Dallas here and they will drop to five and five for me. Yeah. I also have this as a loss against Dallas.

I just can't get that game last year out of my mind that they win with Cooper rush and beat this team. Yes. They lose Amari Cooper CD lamb. You can only assume is going to continue to get better. They still have weapons on that side of the ball. They've reworked the offensive line a little bit that hopefully that unit is back to where it was the last couple of years when it was side of the ball. They've reworked the offensive line a little bit that hopefully that unit is back to where it was the last couple of years when it was one of the best in the league. And for me, it really comes down to as simple as you got to prove it to me with this Dallas team

because last year was just such an abysmal loss. And I can't take it. I can't have them winning this game until I see them actually beat Dallas with Dak Prescott at quarterback, because they have not done it. And they of course lost Cooper rush last season in the midst of their fall.

And I just can't pick this one as a loss. They're coming off two tough losses for me. And it just feels like mid season struggle for the team heading into Thanksgiving week. So everybody's freaking out. They've lost two in a row. Mediocrity is back in Minnesota after that hot start, but they play a new England team that last year was excellent on both sides

of the ball, had an emerging young quarterback who stepped into the limelight and led the Patriots to the playoffs. However, this off season, you talk about Dallas having, this off season, you talk about Dallas having a tough off season. The Patriots may have had the toughest in the entire league. JC Jackson goes to the chargers. They lose Josh McDaniels. And now they are allegedly

going to have some sort of competition for who their offensive coordinator is going to be. Are you kidding me? Patriots? I will go with the Vikings beating New England and New England being one of the more disappointing teams in the NFL. I agree with a lot of that. This will be, I believe, the Vikings' first short week, Kevin O'Connell's first short week as a head coach. Not a lot of head coaches I'd like to have a short week going into than Bill Belichick. I don't

think that's a great matchup there. Just coaching staff on coaching staff for the Vikings to be doing that. This game is on Thanksgiving, I believe. So you imagine crazy home crowd for that one national spotlight game. I just don't think New England loses that type of game. I don't think Bill Belichick loses that type of game. So I had them winning five in a row. Now I have them losing four in a row. They lose to New England here, and they dropped five and six. Well, I do think that on the short week, if there is someone who benefits,

it is the more experienced coach. But I just don't believe in New England. I just don't believe in New England. I just don't believe in them losing their longtime offensive coordinator who was so good for so long and being able to adjust. And I think that maybe there's some rookie regression because they didn't do a whole lot to counteract that for Mac Jones with the roster. So I'm giving them the win there. They go to six and five for me, five and six for you. Play the Jets. This is one of the hardest ones to predict because the Jets are that rebuilding team

around the rookie quarterback contract, just drafted high with two young players, with Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson. Zach Wilson going into his second season. We don't know what to expect after he looked so poor in the first year. Robert Sala, great defensive mind, is their head coach. I mean, this seems like it should be a better battle than we think, but I am still going to go with the Vikings here. And I didn't rank this particularly high either. I ranked it as the 12th hardest game, but this could be the one that by week 12, I'm sorry, by week 13, we're looking at it way differently than we are right now.

Yeah, I have this one as a win as well for the Vikings. As much as I wasn't a, or as much as, as I talked about, I'm not a Tua believer. Zach Wilson did nothing for me last year to feel like he's going to take any sort of jump. We didn't even get many, like many glimmers that it was like, oh, okay okay that play is super applicable and we can kind of bottle that up and kind of use that throughout the rest of this season they obviously have three new draft picks i think that bodes well for them in the long-term future a lot of those guys just don't end up playing right away and or contributing right away in a big role and so i think next year this team could be more, but I don't see it here at this point. This stops their losing streak for me, gets them back to 500.

I think the coaching staff's better on the side of the Vikings. I think the quarterback's better. And I think the supporting cast is better for the Vikings and it's at home. And it's a game at this point in the season, they're really going to need, if they want to make a playoff push, I don't think the jets are going to be in a similar situation. So I think this is, this is a win for the Vikings. Okay. On to week 14 and the Detroit lions. Now I have them splitting with Detroit winning the first one losing on the road. I think Jared Goff will just be a lot better. I mean,

Jared Goff was truly horrendous last year. I think with a better offensive line, they brought in DJ Chark. They have Amon Ross St. Brown going into his second season. By this point also, Jamison Williams will be up to speed by week 14. I think that at very least the Lions are showing signs of being a vastly improved team from where they were last year under Dan Campbell. And they get a win here against the Vikings and they split with Detroit, who I don't think at this point will be talked about as any sort of real contender, but maybe they make it in the hunt graphic, which would be big progress for them. Yeah. I switched this one

back and forth a couple of times as we were waiting for the schedule to get released. And I knew we were going to do this. Ultimately I have them winning here. Again, I switched this one back and forth a couple times as we were waiting for the schedule to get released, and I knew we were going to do this. Ultimately, I have them winning here. Again, I think it comes down to the fact that Detroit won't be in the playoff picture. I know there's a lot of people high on the Detroit Lions. I know you are bullish a little bit about just they could be better. I know a friend of the podcast, Eric Eager, has jumped on the Lions bandwagon. And I think, again, like the Jets, I feel like next year is their best time.

They either see that they have gotten decent play out of Jared Goff, and they feel like he can at least maybe rekindle some of his early Rams years where maybe they aren't making it to the Super Bowl, but they're making it to the playoffs with him, or they get a new rookie quarterback, and they have all the circumstances around him to let him take off but i think this is a game the vikings at this point in the schedule need to win the at least previous regime had success a lot of success against

detroit i think that carries over i think they beat detroit but i think it's probably a very close game one game that detroit is not going to give in too easy, but I think they need this game at this point in the season for the Vikings. All right. So I have them at this point, seven and six going into week 15. I think they go back to 500 lose to the Indianapolis Colts, though. I am not a believer in some sort of new magical Matt Ryan. I am a believer in this Indianapolis Colts roster. And this is kind of a theme for all of my picks that teams that have stronger roster than their quarterback. I am tending to lean toward them like the Miami Dolphins, like the Philadelphia Eagles, and now the Indianapolis Colts, Jonathan Taylor, that offensive line. They've got a good defense, especially a good

defensive line that terrorized the Vikings a couple of years ago. If Matt Ryan is just okay, which he was not horrendous by the way, last year by a lot of metrics, like he was 13th and PFF grade when kept clean, but the Falcons had one of the worst offensive lines in the league that is much improved now. So I say the Vikings go back to 500 with this L against the Indianapolis Colts. Yeah. I, again, this was when I went back and forth on a little bit, but I think Matt Ryan was just in a bad situation with the Falcons. This Indianapolis team, you know, three weeks before the end of the regular season, I remember reading countless articles of this is the team you do not want to

play in the playoffs because of the way they play with their running back and Jonathan Taylor, that offensive line, their defense rounding into form. I think with a stable quarterback that isn't just an absolute disaster in Carson Wentz, I think they win this game with Matt Ryan. And I think, yeah, like you said, I think we're, we had at this point, I think we're still lockstep with their entire record, but I think, yeah, like you said, I think we're at this point, I think we're still lockstep with their entire record. But I think Indianapolis comes to Minnesota. It's going to be a tough game for them to win in this environment. But I think they do come out and beat the Vikings. It's a very similar team with a lot of similarities.

But to me, Indianapolis' roster is just a little bit stronger. Their head coach is a little bit more proven. And they get the win. Okay. The New York giants for this one. I don't have a lot to say about it because I have no idea what the giants will look like at this point. I think it's altogether possible. Brian Dable has turned them around and it's also possible that they are a total and complete disaster. So I put this down as a win for the Vikings because on paper, the Giants are not one of the stronger opponents. And that's kind of the best I could do when you

have a new coach. And also they were the most injured team in the NFL last year. So a healthy roster for the Giants. I think they're a lot tougher than they were last year, but this is one that you, I think a hundred times out of a hundred based on what the Giants have done the last few years. And the fact that they didn't get a new quarterback, you have to put down as a W for the Vikings to go to eight and seven. Yeah. First doing this, I actually put this down as a loss and have since changed it. I mean, they had a really, really good draft with getting Sauce Gardner and Kayvon Thibodeau. I think those are pieces that can come in immediately. But just like I said, with the Jets and maybe the Lions,

it takes a season to get under their belt. Corners especially, it takes them a while. And so I think the arrow's pointing up. I'm a big fan of Brian D'Abel. That was one of the coaches I thought I wanted the Vikings to go after. I still think the Vikings get this one at home and beat the Giants who, like you said, there's just so many different outcomes for this team. And I think more often than not, they're bad. I think there are some options where they end up being actually pretty solid.

But I think the Vikings beat the Giants here. Okay, so at this point, both of us have the Vikings in a very similar position to where they have been in past years, having to win games down the stretch to get into the postseason. But I think that that's a realistic expectation. And if they outperform that, then good for them. But based on recent history and what they did this offseason, we kind of have to go by what we think they will be in making this pick. And we'll do another episode, maybe, Paul, where we say something nice about every part of the roster. But I think this is the most realistic part or outcome for the Vikings at this point in the season, meaning they have to go on the road to Green Bay and then on the road to Chicago and get those wins. And I put the game on the road in January to Green Bay as

the number one, most difficult game on the Minnesota Vikings schedule and a loss at Lambeau field. They are three and eight in December or January at Lambeau field since 1990. Uh, yeah, sorry. I'm going to have to pick Green Bay here and have the Vikings fall to 8-8. Yeah, and similarly, some of the reasons why we thought the Vikings may be able to steal that first game against the Packers, I think the Packers at this point in the season will have figured out their wide receiver issue. Aaron Rodgers has found a new favorite target.

That defense has figured out how to be successful without some of their best players. And so I think this is a game where the Packers need it for playoff seeding. The Vikings need it. And the Packers are just the better team. So I have the Packers winning this game as well. Yeah, and this is a tough one because we don't know what the two teams will look like so deep into the season anytime you're making these picks.

But if we're going on recent history, that one might be pretty tough to win at Lambeau in January. So that means going to Soldier Field, where the Vikings are historically extremely cursed. And I have had a rule, a standing rule on the show, that I never picked the Vikings to win at Soldier Field. But I am breaking that rule because over the last two years, they have won at Soldier Field. And I just think that at that point, the Chicago Bears should be completely done. And this win or loss, but I'm going to go

with a win, will likely be the one that is like win and you your in. And if not, that means you lost tiebreakers to whoever, which I wouldn't even dream of trying to figure out and picking all the games now, who's going to get tiebreakers. But a nine and eight situation sometimes will put you in the playoffs. Sometimes it won't. And I think that that's the razor's edge

that the Vikings are going to dance between all season long. And that if this one has the playoffs on the line, I say they win it against the Chicago bears who are reeling at that point. They've turned on Eber Flus. They're saying, bring back Nagy. It couldn't have been any worse. Uh, no, I'm just kidding. That's probably not going to happen, but they're just a bad team.

And by the end of the season, bad teams are usually worse. So I will go with a win and the Vikings go nine and eight. Yes. I don't like that. We have the exact same record. We did have a lot of picks different in there though, but I do also have them going to soldier field and beating the bears. I just think the bears are going to be atrocious this year. They went with the approach of, we're really not going to be atrocious this year they went with the approach of we're really not going to give justin fields that many weapons or that much help along the offensive line which not quite sure i agree with that strategy not that they had a ton of capital to go out and do a lot of stuff with but the capital they did have they used on defense and you're just not setting up

your rookie quarterback to win when you're doing those types of things at this point in the season i expect they're like 5 and 11 or something like that completely out of it they have nothing to play for the vikings have something to play for and that should be enough for them to win this game alone but i think they're the better team in general you've gotten rid of the new. Maybe some of your soldier field demons have gone with them and you start feeling good. At least on my schedule, you beat Detroit both times, you beat Chicago both times, and you're feeling good about where you're at with some of those division rivals. I have them winning this game and in probably Vikings fashion, losing on a

tiebreaker at nine and eight playoffs. sadly that's just that feels like the fate of this team but that's where i have them this year yeah i mean i like to try to color outside the lines sometimes i mean especially with predictions it's almost like this thing in football where if you predict something that is a little bit bold everyone goes oh you look crazy psychopath you're like well okay it was slightly different like i saw someone the other day do their tier rankings of teams and they put the giants pretty high and all the responses were giant so you're the dumbest person alive and it's like i don't know i mean i could see it joe judge was maybe the worst coach other than urban

meyer so maybe they improve uh maybe they're healthier this year like i don't know it's the nfl i mean last year philadelphia started out horrendously bad made the playoffs and we all thought that they were dead in the water i mean indianapolis has start off oh and four before and made the playoffs the vikings were right in it last year after a tough start like i don't know man know, man. I mean, the preseason predictions. I remember one time when I used to get magazines delivered to the house, uh, yeah, back in the day. And, uh, I remember looking back, like saving them and looking back at the preseason predictions because they had predicted every team's record and just laughing at how

hysterically wrong it was. And I think that that always happens to everybody. But at the same time, I was just trying to look through and go, let's make the most reasonable argument and the most reasonable pick here. And I did not purposefully aim for nine and eight. It just ended up there. I put the horse blinders on and went game by game and still ended up at that spot. I mean, I'm not going to say that I think they'll get tiebreakers or not get tiebreakers and make it or not make it, but if they go nine and eight, I don't think this is a success. Even if you make

it, I mean, I think it has to be better than this. Like they have to, at the end of the season, have proved our predictions wrong and be laughing at us in order for this season to have been a thumbs up for the Vikings because of the way they handled the off season. Would you agree with that? I think so. And I, and I do think like we picked a couple of games that I think could easily go the other direction. I think we both picked the Eagles to win in week two, but Jalen Hurts could just be a mess. Like we don't know that much about Jalen Hurts and everyone's feeling good about the Eagles. They're kind of a hot team that a lot of analysts are picking. I think Jalen Hurts could easily just be bad and the Vikings win their Indianapolis. Matt Ryan could just be washed and

the Vikings could win that game. And so I think that's the path. That's the path to being better than what we're saying is there's a ton of teams you play that are kind of right in the same tier as you. Philadelphia, Miami, Washington, Arizona, Indianapolis. If you can end up going over 500 against those teams, I think you have a really good shot of maybe winning 10 games. Because there's enough easier games on the schedule that they can get some wins. And they have a couple hard games in the Buffalo game and the Dallas game at Green Bay. You can still get to 10 and 7 losing those games. You just kind of have to win more of those toss-up games than you lose. And I think there's an argument to be made that they could win any of those games, but at the same time,

they could easily lose any of those games. So I think those games against those middle-tier opponents are going to be the most important for them, and it's going to give you a good litmus test of where they're at in this competitive rebuild, quote-unquote. But if they can get out of that with like a 3-2, then maybe they do have a shot

to beating our predictions wrong and getting to double digit wins. That's actually a really good question. Let's end on that question. How many games that you picked, would you say you are more than say 55% confident about your pick? Let's see. I think I'm confident more than 55 about both my bears wins about my at line or home lions win home jets win i'm at four now i'm confident in the giants win that's five six i i mean i would say like half these games i'm'm more than 55% confident in my prediction. Like even some of the losses, like I feel good about them losing to Buffalo, losing to Green Bay, but they could easily beat the Patriots.

I think they could beat the Cowboys too. So I think it's probably like eight games, eight, nine games, right where we have their record around. I feel like those are the amount of games I feel like I have a good grasp of. Right. They need to, in some of these games that we're confident they're going to lose pull off upsets. I mean, they have to go to Lambeau or they have to go to Buffalo. There are enough tough games on this where you are the decided underdog. I throwzona in that mix i think the arizona is not getting a lot of respect and i understand why um but i think that when the team wins 11 games uh from the previous year and maybe gets a little better as far as their weapons

go that they still deserve to be considered ahead of the vikings um the the philadelphia one for some reason i feel confident about that they will go to Philadelphia and not win, but maybe I shouldn't. Like, it just feels like Monday night, team that's great with the line. Like, I don't know. That one, it just feels so dicey. But I think that the quarterback schedule

is the reason why there are so many teams that you cannot definitively say, I feel great about this win. Like I should feel great about a Jets win, but we've seen quarterbacks go from, and Jared Goff was this absolutely awful to quite good all of the sudden in their second year, like first year numbers are not predictive of what they're going to do in the second season. So, you know, I think that that's the funny thing about this schedule. And maybe I feel less confident than I have in any year previously because there are so many teams that just do not have great quarterbacks.

Am I wrong in saying this? The only great quarterbacks are Josh Allen and Aaron Rodgers. Is there anybody else? Am I missing something? jack jack probably um can you you can't see only one you can beat that though right like you don't feel like he's superman and that's what opens the door for kevin o'connell and quesia daflamenta to have their first year i think it at least makes it possible to be a big success because if these quarterbacks who are supposed to step up and rise to the challenge, do not do that to a fields, Wilson

Jones. I mean, you're talking about the Vikings running roughshod through this, even Matt Ryan, if he's super washed or Carson Wentz, if he's horrible in Washington, like you could see every single one of those situations playing out, or you could see it the exact opposite way, which I think makes this schedule more difficult to predict than maybe I felt in years past. Yeah. And according to sharp football, which does the strength of schedule based on projected wind totals for next year, not just on last year's records, the Vikings have the 16th hardest schedule. So literally dead in the middle. And I think that's illustrative of it could go either direction because it's just so in the middle that, yeah,

could they lose a lot of these games and could it be bad? Sure, but there's so many different outcomes. And this isn't a crazy hard schedule, but it's also not a crazy easy schedule that they can take advantage of. And I think because of that, it lends itself to them kind of being in the same spot they have been because the schedule is just average. So if we're going to go, the Vikings play just an average season, that's eight and nine, nine and eight. That's what we keep talking about all the time. That is their average. And this schedule in a lot of ways sets them up to do that unless

they can pick off a couple of those games that we're not expecting them to okay well uh lots to continue to discuss the off-season program kind of begins uh tomorrow with rookie minicamp i'll be out there and this one um i i didn't go with just a can of Diet Dr. Pepper for this one. I went 20 ounce. I was ready for this. And so if all you friends who are listening, we're like, oh, my gosh, guys, slow down. No. Schedule a release day. Never.

No football. Okay. Well, great stuff, Paul. Thanks for your time. And we will have a lot to discuss as we go forward. But, you know, I think we'll make it a goal this offseason to get a lot of the other writers on who cover these teams that are on the schedule and talk to them about what's going on with their teams and see if we can get a better picture of what this is going to be. Because right now, even though I feel like this is the right record for the Vikings, my confidence meter is maybe lower than ever because of what we were just talking about. So thanks for your time, Paul. Thank you all for listening and we'll see you later.