5 of remaining 8 against NFC North...

[purplefaithful]

The start of the Vikings season hasn’t been exactly what the team imagined coming off a 13-3 record in 2017.
But head coach Mike Zimmer said that when it comes to being 4-3-1 at the halfway mark, he isn’t going to worry about what happened in previous games.
“It is what it is,” Zimmer said. “We have eight more games to go and that will determine what we end up doing.”
Yes, the main reason that the Vikings’ season remains wide open is because they have played only one game within their division, a 29-29 tie with the Packers in Week 2.
One game separates the division-leading Bears (4-3) from the bottom-dwelling Lions (3-4), and over the next eight weeks the Vikings will face five NFC North opponents, starting with the Lions on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
But the biggest problem for the Vikings is that they face six teams with a current record at or above .500 the rest of the way. Their only remaining opponent with a losing record is the Lions, whom they will also face in Week 16.
The combined record of the Vikings’ last eight opponents is 31-26-1. The Vikings are the only NFC North club with a bye remaining, which will come after the Detroit game.
The Bears, on the other hand, have four matchups with teams with a losing record: two with the Lions, and one each with the 1-7 New York Giants and the 1-7 San Francisco 49ers. Their remaining opponents are 27-31-3.
The Packers have a slightly more difficult road starting with a game against the New England Patriots this weekend, but their remaining opponents are 33-34-1.
The Lions are the only team in the NFC North with a more difficult remaining schedule than the Vikings. They have to face the 8-0 Los Angeles Rams and the 5-2 Carolina Panthers while also facing the Arizona Cardinals and the Buffalo Bills, who are both 2-6. Their remaining opponents are 39-29-3.
The main thing for the Vikings will be taking care of those five division games and seeing if they can sneak out a road win against either the Patriots or Seattle Seahawks in back-to-back weeks in early December.
There’s no doubt that the Vikings expected to be closer to 5-3 or 6-2 after eight weeks, but, like Zimmer pointed out, they’re in perfectly fine position to make the playoffs if they perform at a high level in the second half of the season against their division.
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-have-...499210201/

[Guest]

opposing records determining future success is only now starting to mean something.  every year teams come out hot and dont make the playoffs and there are teams that start 3-5 that get hot and end up hosting a playoff game.. .. 

one week at a time,  not point at all in trying to guess any further than that,  especially with the way this team has been struggling with injury.

[Guest]

We've really backed ourselves into a corner here.  I think we're going to probably have to sweep the Bears to win the division.  I think we'll need 10 wins to get a wild card (6 of 8).  It's possible we could sneak in with 9 wins as a WC, but that seems like we'd be tempting fate.  I almost think you have to just pen in the Patriots game as a loss.  I think we just need the mindset that we have to win out other than that game and hope that if we lose a game it's not too bad.

[Guest]

@purplefaithful said:
The start of the Vikings season hasn’t been exactly what the team imagined coming off a 13-3 record in 2017.
But head coach Mike Zimmer said that when it comes to being 4-3-1 at the halfway mark, he isn’t going to worry about what happened in previous games.
“It is what it is,” Zimmer said. “We have eight more games to go and that will determine what we end up doing.”
Yes, the main reason that the Vikings’ season remains wide open is because they have played only one game within their division, a 29-29 tie with the Packers in Week 2.
One game separates the division-leading Bears (4-3) from the bottom-dwelling Lions (3-4), and over the next eight weeks the Vikings will face five NFC North opponents, starting with the Lions on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
But the biggest problem for the Vikings is that they face six teams with a current record at or above .500 the rest of the way. Their only remaining opponent with a losing record is the Lions, whom they will also face in Week 16.
The combined record of the Vikings’ last eight opponents is 31-26-1. The Vikings are the only NFC North club with a bye remaining, which will come after the Detroit game.
The Bears, on the other hand, have four matchups with teams with a losing record: two with the Lions, and one each with the 1-7 New York Giants and the 1-7 San Francisco 49ers. Their remaining opponents are 27-31-3.
The Packers have a slightly more difficult road starting with a game against the New England Patriots this weekend, but their remaining opponents are 33-34-1.
The Lions are the only team in the NFC North with a more difficult remaining schedule than the Vikings. They have to face the 8-0 Los Angeles Rams and the 5-2 Carolina Panthers while also facing the Arizona Cardinals and the Buffalo Bills, who are both 2-6. Their remaining opponents are 39-29-3.
The main thing for the Vikings will be taking care of those five division games and seeing if they can sneak out a road win against either the Patriots or Seattle Seahawks in back-to-back weeks in early December.
There’s no doubt that the Vikings expected to be closer to 5-3 or 6-2 after eight weeks, but, like Zimmer pointed out, they’re in perfectly fine position to make the playoffs if they perform at a high level in the second half of the season against their division.
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-have-...499210201/

As Bud used to say, "it's not who you play but when you play them." And that's even more true in today's paritous (is that a word?) NFL. I think the match ups--in the 2nd half of this years's schedule especially --are mostly meaningless: there isn't a bad team remaining on our schedule, nor is there a great team. So IMO it just comes down to how healthy the Vikings are vs. how healthy the opponents are when they play them.  

If we can somehow avoid injuries against the Lions, we should be getting a lot of key players back after the bye. And a fully healthy Vikings team is a much better team than the one we saw on Sunday. 

[Guest]

@medaille said:
We've really backed ourselves into a corner here.  I think we're going to probably have to sweep the Bears to win the division.  I think we'll need 10 wins to get a wild card (6 of 8).  It's possible we could sneak in with 9 wins as a WC, but that seems like we'd be tempting fate.  I almost think you have to just pen in the Patriots game as a loss.  I think we just need the mindset that we have to win out other than that game and hope that if we lose a game it's not too bad.

This. Vikings can only afford 2 more losses if they want playoffs. Tough road. 

[Guest]

Somewhere out of these games, they've got to get to 10 wins to stay Kings of the North...

Packers

Det
@ Det

@ Bears
Bears

Miami
@ Patriots
@ Seahawks

[Guest]

It's really pretty simple, IMO. Can't lose again at home. Have to sweep the Lions and beat the SeaHags in Seattle.

Would take a confluence of astrological proportions for this franchise to beat the best Bears team they've fielded in a while in Chicago. All the things the Cheatriots do well on Offense are the things Zimmer's Defense does poorly against.

So hold serve at home, sweep the Kitties, take down the Hags on the road. 

[Guest]

The Vikes are exactly as their record says they are.  I believe that will remain true for the rest of the season.  If they're good enough to make the playoffs, then they deserve it; especially with this tough schedule.  If they miss out, then they just weren't good enough.

Not being good enough is a tough pill to swallow.  I thought they'd be better than what they've shown so far.