Welcome back to another edition of ‘The Super Bowl Race In The Perspective Of Chase’, a close to daily NFL article previewing your favorite teams season! The Minnesota Vikings were one of the biggest surprises of 2023, as they went 13-4, and their 11-0 record in one possession games was the best in history. But was that luck? Is this team THAT good? Or is Minnesota just a good football team that will build off of last years success this coming year. Here is everything you need to know about the Minnesota Vikings going into 2023!
It has to be answered: Are the Vikings good?
Last year, the Minnesota Vikings’ offense was ran by the passing attack. Kirk Cousins had a pretty drippy season in 2022, throwing for over 4500 yards and 29 touchdowns while completing about 66% of his passes. Now, is he turnover prone? Is he inconsistent? Of course! But he may good enough for Minnesota to run with for the time being, until the Vikings have to find another answer years down the line.
The running game was once again led by now departed Dalvin Cook, who ran for over 1100 yards and eight touchdowns with close to 4.5 yards per attempt. Alexander Mattison was also solid though with six total TD’s, and he’ll finally have to step up in that RB1 position. In the receiving game, they have THE best receiver in the game, as Justin Jefferson had over 1800 yards in 2022, and griddyed his way to the sixth most single season receiving yards in history. Adam Thielen and K.J Osborn each had 650+ yards as well, and T.J. Hockenson, who just recently signed the largest contract for a tight end in history, was a key contributor as well.
The Vikings defense was just very confusing. Because Erik Kendricks was great with 137 tackles, and Jordan Hicks was right behind him with 129 tackles. In the secondary, Patrick Peterson was amazing with five interceptions, a mark that ranked 5th in the NFL, and Harrison Smith also had five picks. Danielle Hunter and Z’Darius Smith also each had 10+ sacks. However, Minnesota’s defense still allowed the second most yards per game in the league, and the fifth in points allowed per game. So a ton of talent and nothing to show for it.
So the Vikings were a 13-4 team with a negative point differential! What?!? That’s insane! And in the postseason, it proved they were a fraudulent team, losing in the first round when they allowed Daniel Jones to torch their defense. But if anything, they just got worse this offseason. The one thing the Vikings don’t need is inconsistency, yet they replaced Adam Thielen with rookie Jordan Addison, signed Hockenson to a massive contract, lost Z’Darius Smith and Patrick Peterson without replacing them and let go Dalvin Cook and are running with an unproven Mattison as their RB1!
This team is not going to be good. That is my prediction. Last year, everything went Minnesota’s way. Cousins was consistent, Jefferson was playing all time great football, and they went 13-4. But even if they went 6-5 in one possession games, which would still be a great record, they would have gone 8-9. Now they got worse and are relying on an inconsistent passing game and an older, weaker defense. Not only do I think the Vikings will the miss playoffs, I think there is a possibility they have a bottom ten pick in the draft this coming year!
Prediction: Vikings go 6-11, miss the playoffs, and try to find a replacement for Kirk Cousins
Chase Coburn
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