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This doesnt feel like other years does it?
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11-14-2022, 01:43 PM
I'm talking vs 98, 09, 17...
How they're doing it this year with this staff is just different. Lots of football left to play and we still have all 3 Divisional road games to play too. Not counting anything yet.
11-14-2022, 02:09 PM
I don't know. I was telling my teenage son about those years. There was a pivotal game in each year that made many of us a believer:
98 - Moss' MNF game against the Pack 09 - SF and Greg Lewis 17 - CHI. Keenum coming in when Bradford got hurt and leading us to victory in a place where wins were hard to come by no matter how bad the Bears were Yesterday will go down as the same type of game to me, regardless of how we finish out the season.
11-14-2022, 02:29 PM
There was something magical about those 3 seasons. I'm not sure if we're on that level of magic but it certainly feels pretty good.
Kirk went out and did what he had to do under the microscope of a national game. I hope it gives him confidence to go out and do it going forward. Let me say this, if we could have last years offense (meaning if we clicked this year) this team is capable of winning it all. The defense has far exceeded my expectations as the year has gone on.
11-14-2022, 02:33 PM
This year definitely has a special feel to it. I keep thinking that it reminds me of the 2015 team, a division winner, which wasn't an overly talented team, but they were a really close knit team, they had the doughnut club that they use to take pics and post and the team just seemed to really like each other and have fun on and off the field together. They had gone through a lot with having to leave the dome and play their games in a college stadium outside and this team has also gone through a significant change. Like this team, that team was a lot of fun to watch and to look forward to what they were going to do next to win a game.
11-14-2022, 03:56 PM
Are the Vikings as complete a team as the undefeated Eagles? No. Minnesota doesn't have a dominant defense like the Dallas Cowboys or San Francisco 49ers. Cousins isn't Tom Brady, either.But for all the flak that Cousins gets, he's a capable veteran quarterback. Cook and Jefferson are top-five options at their respective positions. The Vikings have an above-average offensive line. A pair of excellent pass-rushers in Za'Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter. An opportunistic defense that makes big plays when needed. And now the Vikings have demonstrated that they can go on the road and down a Super Bowl contender.
The Vikings might not be the best team in the NFL. Or even the best team in the NFC. But on Sunday, Minnesota served notice to the rest of the league. The 2022 Vikings are for real. And those who underestimate them do so at their own peril. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10055601-vikings-cement-legitimate-super-bowl-contender-role-with-upset-of-josh-allens-bills?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial
11-14-2022, 04:08 PM
I would love, and believe we have the ability to go out and beat our next 3 opponents by 10 points+ each. If we do, then will people believe?
I mean those special seasons, where we seemed unstoppable, it didn't work out so maybe a team like this is the one that does it.
11-14-2022, 04:13 PM
Are the Vikings good?Sunday's win gave both sides ammunition for their argument. If you're a Vikings believer, you saw a team fight back against one of the NFL's best teams down 17 points in the second half and win. The Vikings overcame adversity, picked up big plays when they needed, forced two critical Allen interceptions and pulled out a game in which they were seen as underdogs on a national stage against Case Keenum, let alone an MVP candidate in Allen.
If you're more of a skeptic, well, you can tell yourself an entirely different story. The Vikings fell behind by multiple touchdowns and needed one long touchdown run by Dalvin Cook to get back in the game before the greatest catch of Jefferson's life extended it. Then, after they were stuffed at the goal line, the Bills gifted them a touchdown with a botched snap. Ed Donatell's defense then failed to stop the Bills from driving for a tying field goal. While the Vikings took the lead in overtime, the Bills were driving to match or win before a mental mistake by Allen handed Minnesota yet another close victory. I fall somewhere in the middle on this question. Pulling out a win in Buffalo is impressive, no matter how they come about that victory. Since acquiring Diggs in 2020, the Bills had been 19-4 at home and 20-3 when scoring at least 30 points. They had been 8-0 when both were true. Even if it took a well-timed fumble, this is the sort of win the Vikings can point to as the first line on their 2022 résumé. As successful as this formula has been for Minnesota, it's not the hallmark of great teams. Teams that end up having postseason success typically don't toy with their regular-season opponents. They blow teams out. The Vikings are 8-1 and have won each of the games on their seven-game win streak by eight points or fewer. Eight-point margins aren't one-possession games since a team can't win the game on a single drive, but you get the idea: These are close games, and the Vikings have needed late scores to beat the Bills, Commanders, Lions and Saints. Yet there's a fair number of teams that have won games this way and managed to find postseason success. The only other team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to win seven consecutive games by eight points or fewer is the 2020 Chiefs, who rode their luck all the way to the Super Bowl before being torn apart by offensive line injuries and the Tampa Bay pass rush. Those Chiefs already had proved that they could dominate teams in 2019, though, so we didn't have the same conversations about their abilities. Looking at it a different way, Minnesota has seven victories by eight points or fewer across the first nine games of its season. That's tied for the most since the merger, and the two other teams with seven such wins represent two dramatic swings. The 1987 Chargers were affected by the strike, but they went 8-1 to start the season while winning one game by more than six points. Al Saunders' team promptly lost its last six games and missed the playoffs. On the other hand, the 2006 Colts did this same thing, and after getting back safety Bob Sanders for the playoffs, they got hot on defense and won Super Bowl XLI. The 1976 Raiders won six of their first nine games by eight points or fewer, went 13-1 and won a Lombardi. The 2003 Panthers finished 11-5 and made it to the Super Bowl. All things being equal, you're better off being a team that wins by a lot each week, but winning a bunch of close games in a season doesn't preclude a team from making a deep playoff run. At some point, having victories in your back pocket can help overcome whatever deficiencies are on the roster. Remember 2017? The Eagles weren't this sort of team when they started 11-2, but when quarterback Carson Wentz went down with a torn ACL, backup Nick Foles was forced into the lineup. Foles had a big game in a win over the Giants, but he struggled badly the next week and was benched in Week 17. In a vacuum, an Eagles team with Foles at quarterback wouldn't have seemed like the favorite to win a Super Bowl. With all those banked victories, though, they finished with the top seed in the NFC, netting them a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the postseason. Foles struggled through a narrow win over the Falcons, but he got hot in a blowout victory over the Falcons in the NFC Championship Game. You remember what happened in Super Bowl LII. The Vikings aren't as strong of a team as those Eagles were with Wentz, but if the 2022 Eagles slip up, Cousins & Co. are best-positioned to pounce. Their chances of making it through the NFC are a lot better if they have to win two games at home as opposed to three games with at least one road trip involved. The other crystal-clear element for the Vikings is that they believe they belong among the top teams in the league. Maybe that doesn't matter much, and if they lose to the Patriots and the Cowboys over the next two weeks, that self-belief will dissipate as quickly as it appeared. But after years of frustrating moments, missed kicks and a coaching staff that often seemed frustrated with the roster, everybody is on the same page in Minnesota. It sure looks a lot more fun to be a Vikings player this year than it did a year ago. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35021856/was-vikings-bills-best-game-nfl-season-explaining-ending-justin-jefferson-catch-josh-allen-struggles-kirk-cousins-rise
11-14-2022, 04:19 PM
Quote: @purplefaithful said:Lets talk Cousins... WTF is with him this year? He is having his worst year as a Viking...but at the same time the best year of the Vikings O, yesterday was possibly his most WTF game to date this year ( 2 fumbles and what should have been 3 picks if TJ hadnt taken the OPI in the endzone, and those werent even football things, they were just WTF moments).... but yet he turns around and looks like a future HOF QB a few minutes later. We see him take off and run where he has to make a move or two and then doesnt get down, but other times he has wide open lanes to gain chunk yards and he tries to force a pass into tight coverage. I just dont know what to make of him this year.
11-14-2022, 04:23 PM
Quote: @JimmyinSD said:
11-14-2022, 04:36 PM
Quote: @purplefaithful said: |
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