CBS Sports Picks Vikings to ‘Join the Party’ for 2021 Playoffs
Dustin Baker
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Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports shared thoughts on Monday about NFL teams that will miss the postseason after reaching the dance in 2020. Among those teams are the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, and Pittsburgh Steelers. For various reasons — from Aaron RodgersGate to Ben Roethlisberger’s gradual decline — those teams are slated to disengage in mid-January activities.
Then there are the squads that will replace the fall-from-grace teams. Per La Canfora, those franchises include Los Angeles Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, and New England Patriots. Those teams are led by young quarterbacks — or at least a transitional plan to a youthful passer — so the trend here is excitement and optimism at QB1.
And he also included the Minnesota Vikings in this welcome-to-the-playoffs fivesome. Minnesota writhed its way to a grimy 7-9 record last season, ensuring that head coach Mike Zimmer encounters a pivotal season in 2021. According to CBS Sports, Zimmer will likely survive the hot seat. La Canfora wrote:
“Well, if the Packers are falling off due to A-Rod drama, somehow has to fill that void. Might as well be Minnesota, because, well, there isn’t much else to go with. Kirk Cousins will respond to having a new understudy, they should be a little better in the trenches, and the Bears and Lions are basically rebuilding (though only one of them admits it). They have an MVP candidate in the backfield at RB and are loaded at WR and Mike Zimmer will get the defense to play at least a little better than a year ago.“
That’s just it. His forecast details that Green Bay and Chicago will experience doldrums — somebody from the NFC North has to emerge. Seemingly by default — because it probably won’t be the Detroit Lions — it’s time for the Vikings to return to the playoffs, continuing the extremely goofy pattern of odd-year prosperity intertwined with even-year mediocrity. Minnesota reached the playoffs in 2015, 2019, and 2019 — while missing out on extracurricular football in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020. The scheme is a Zimmerian one and is strange no matter how it is analyzed.
Defense was on the docket for Vikings general manager Rick Spielman to start the 2021 offseason. He added Patrick Peterson (CB), Dalvin Tomlinson (DT), Mackensie Alexander (CB), Nick Vigil (LB), Stephen Weatherly (DE), Xavier Woods (S). Offensively, Minnesota traded for offensive lineman Mason Cole, who will probably fill a reservist role unless something wacky transpires.
Riley Reiff (LT), Anthony Harris (S), Eric Wilson (LB), Ifeadi Odenigbo (DE), and Kyle Rudolph (TE) were shown the door to free up cap space. Those losses will not go without notice. Yet, through the draft and aforementioned free agency, Spielman and Zimmer should negate most of the key departures.
(OT) Christian Darrisaw, (QB) Kellen Mond, (LB) Chazz Surratt, (G) Wyatt Davis, (DE) Patrick Jones II, (RB) Kene Nwangwu, (S) Camryn Bynum, (DE) Janarius Robinson, (WR) Ihmir Smith-Marsette, (TE) Zach Davidson, and (DT) Jalen Twyman [in order] were added to the roster from the 2021 NFL Draft.
For CBS Sports, that’s good enough to do the trick for a postseason appearance in eight months.
Fasten your seatbelt, though, as the stakes are unusually high. The Vikings indeed drafted a quarterback of the future in Kellen Mond, but it will probably be a new head coach grooming the Aggie in 2022 or 2023 if this upcoming season goes pear-shaped.