Bleacher Report Predicts Underwhelming Record for 2021 Vikings
Dustin Baker
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If you’re in the camp that the Minnesota Vikings will massively improve during the 2021 campaign — shield your eyeballs. Bleacher Report holds a differing opinion, relegating the Vikings to a middle-of-the-pack status in terms of wins and losses.
Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report released a lengthy analysis on every NFL team and his forecast for respective wins and losses.
Currently, most Vegas sportsbooks peg the Vikings as an 8.5-win team, inspiring a sense of “meh” from Vikings faithful. Most purple and gold followers foresee Minnesota vastly enriching the product from its blasé 2020 output. After all, general manager Rick Spielman restocked the defense with players like Patrick Peterson and Dalvin Tomlinson. Then, Spielman actionized a startable, young offensive line, which culminated when he drafted Christian Darrisaw and Wyatt Davis in the draft’s first three rounds. Hell, Spielman even found a quarterback of the future.
But Bleacher Report isn’t buying it. To them, the Vikings are a middling 9-8 team for 2021, per Ballentine:
“General manager Rick Spielman had one of the better showings in the 2021 NFL draft. The Vikes clearly saw their need for improvement on the offensive line and managed to get two good options by trading back in the first round, taking Christian Darrisaw with the 23rd pick and getting Ohio State’s Wyatt Davis with the third-rounder they picked up in the trade. Still, the fact that those two could wind up being the starting duo on the left side of the line doesn’t bode well in 2021. They will each take their lumps adjusting to life in the NFL. The good news is the Vikings have one of the best trios in Adam Thielen, Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook. Kirk Cousins is good enough to post winning numbers with that skill around him. The season’s overall success is going to rely on a defense that was ranked 27th in efficiency in 2020. Losing Danielle Hunter to injury and breaking in multiple defensive backs didn’t help matters. Come the offseason, they lost Ifeadi Odenigbo on the defensive line and Anthony Harris at safety, so some of those problems could continue. Mike Zimmer will have to tap into his defensive background to unlock the potential of this roster.“
To be clear, this prediction will result in the exodus of head coach Mike Zimmer. The 64-year-old faces a prove-it year after the Vikings underperformed during the pandemic season — predominantly due to injuries. Zimmer probably needs at least one playoff win to see the light of the 2022 season.
And the Vikings are equipped from a roster standpoint to do so. Not long ago, 2019, Zimmer’s bunch allowed the fifth-fewest points in the NFL on defense, even snagging a road postseason win in New Orleans. The next season, 2020, the Vikings offense surged to its most prolific levels of production since 2009. In fact, the 2020 Vikings offense scored the third-most points in team history.
Ergo, Zimmer just needs to marry his usually robust defense — with the 2020 offense that, theoretically, should be better with a sturdier offensive line and further development of Justin Jefferson.
Students of Zimmerian football will predict that 2021 is optimistic. Why? Because the coach drags his team to the postseason in odd-numbered years: 2015, 2017, and 2019.
To date, this tendency is like clockwork.