Breaking: Vikings will suck in 2024

[Montana Tom]

kmillardKOC has his Qbs throwing around 40 times a game. It's going to take some adjustment for JJM.
(for some reason wouldn't quote Montana Tom above)

Understood and I don't disagree.  The NFL also has a 17 game regular season plus playoffs (vs. a typical 12 game college regular season not including conference championships or playoffs).  

But I just don't think that a 72.3% completion rate with nearly 3,000 yards passing his final college season is not a reasonable justification to say "he's untested".  
There's an average of 67 to 84 (ballpark avg 70) offensive plays per NFL game.  If a QB passes on half of them (reasonable), that's 35 passes/game.  KOC has been going heavier on passing than rushing, which is also reasonable in a pass-happy NFL.  It's also logical when your ground game can't get anything going (like last season).  

I would expect any Vikings starting QB to be expected to throw around 40 times a game.  I'm just saying past performance is not necessarily a determining factor from that high level of college to the NFL.  It's certainly an indicator, but I don't think it's limiting.

[FLVike]

I'm shoving my chips to the middle of the table, I'm raising the ante, anybody wants in get in, anybody wants out get out. This team is going to the playoffs!

[comet52]

3-14? Pffftt! I went through the schedule and I can see 4-13 pretty easily!

[RS_Express]

I think that if Darnold starts the whole season, we go 5-12. I also believe the Vikings are MUCH better off with JJ and Turner and next year's 1st than Drake Maye. I expect to suffer this year, but there will be a 2025 payoff.

[CFIAvike]

Everyone here knows my feelings on Darnold. I know he’s been in rough situations, but I just don’t see how he’s gonna come out and be a world beater on this team. I also am of the belief that Darnold will be difficult to unseat by JJM this year.

I honestly believe that Darnold was given 10 mil to take the piss this year and take a flyer at resurrecting his career, fully well knowing that he’s not the future at QB for the Vikings.

If he fails, he makes way for JJM in 2025 and allows him some game experience this year. If he succeeds, he allows JJM to not touch the field, makes a great market for himself next year, and allows the Vikings to be competitive.

I honestly think this is a 6 win team. Regardless of what happens, Darnold’s career hangs on what happens this season.

[FLVike]

Everyone here knows my feelings on Darnold. I know he’s been in rough situations, but I just don’t see how he’s gonna come out and be a world beater on this team. I also am of the belief that Darnold will be difficult to unseat by JJM this year.

I honestly believe  that Darnold was given 10 mil to take the piss this year and take a flyer at resurrecting his career, fully well knowing that he’s not the future at QB for the Vikings.

If he fails, he makes way for JJM in 2025 and allows him some game experience this year. If he succeeds, he allows JJM to not touch the field, makes a great market for himself next year, and allows the Vikings to be competitive.

I honestly think this is a 6 win team. Regardless of what happens, Darnold’s career hangs on what happens this season.

Here's why; Most here agree that the most important person on a football team is the QB, but I contend that the coach is the second most important person.  If we get 10 wins then what would you say?

[MaroonBells]

I think at first glance I think this is a 8-10 win team. We'll take a big hit at QB. Darnold is not Cousins, but he's probably quite a bit better than any of the three QBs we used late last year. All the injuries and turnovers from last year should regress to the mean.

I think where we're being underrated is Addison, Turner and Pace Jr. I mean Addison would be a WR1 on most teams. He should be even better this year. Turner is the clear, odds-on favorite for DROY before he's even played a down. If he has that kind of year, Vikings could win a lot of games. IPJ with a year of experience will be fun to watch.

The biggest problem is the division we're in. All those teams are better than they were last year and in order to finish well we're going to need those teams to experience some of the injury and turnover luck the Vikings did last year.

[purplefaithful]

So many moving parts vs last year
Cousins to Darnold is a huge downgrade
Difficult first 1/2 of schedule

I think Vegas got this right at 6.5

It'll take some win streaks in the back 1/2 of the year to overcome an ugly first 1/2.

[Tyr]

I see them as a 7 to 9 win team this year. Darnold is a big question mark and at least so far, they are taking a slower approach with McCarthy, but we'll see if that changes in camp. They should have a better running game than last year and a healthy Jefferson will make a big difference, both of which will take pressure off of the QB. I think the D will be around the same to slightly better year. Hunter is a huge loss, but they have much better quality depth on edge and if Turner can hit the ground running, then he's a perfect fit for Flores' scheme. CB has some questions but it did last year too and I would agree that there are questions along the interior DL and OL. If Darnold turns out to be decent, then they could compete for a wild card, but I'm more expecting that McCarthy takes over midway to late in the season. I do wish they had brought in a better bridge QB. I get the idea on gambling on his potential and he at least had better coaching in SF last year, but I worry that he's mostly cooked.

[StickierBuns]

I think at first glance I think this is a 8-10 win team. We'll take a big hit at QB. Darnold is not Cousins, but he's probably quite a bit better than any of the three QBs we used late last year. All the injuries and turnovers from last year should regress to the mean.

I think where we're being underrated is Addison, Turner and Pace Jr. I mean Addison would be a WR1 on most teams. He should be even better this year. Turner is the clear, odds-on favorite for DROY before he's even played a down. If he has that kind of year, Vikings could win a lot of games. IPJ with a year of experience will be fun to watch.

The biggest problem is the division we're in. All those teams are better than they were last year and in order to finish well we're going to need those teams to experience some of the injury and turnover luck the Vikings did last year.

You seem to fear the North too hard....even last year with the shit show of injuries and cavalcade of backups at QB Minnesota was competitive with the NFCN. I don't fear them. Its no doubt better and it could be a premier division to showcase for the NFL moving forward, but Minnesota is going to be right there. Their roster says so. Wait 'til KOC's little piece of clay starts kicking in in 2025.