Forum The Longship What was your prediction going into 2019? What did...

What was your prediction going into 2019? What did you get wrong? Right?

purplefaithful
Joined May 2013
7,613 posts
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I figured 9-11 wins, assumed the D would be the reason
Didnt anticipate the evolution to offense being the strength of the team
Didnt anticipate the defense continuing to decline, especially the d backfield
Improvement in OL was about to the level I figured it would be. O'Neill upside is higher than I thought. 
Improvement in the running game was what I expected with Dalvin + Kubiak System
Mattison a nice surprise
Assumed Thielen and Diggs would have much bigger years. 
Didnt think Bradbury would struggle as much as he did

No way did I see us getting swept by Bears and Packers

Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger! 

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#1 · Jan 17, 7:55 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
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I had us at 11-5.

Thought we'd go RB Day two.

Didn't think Rhodes would be worse.

Thought Elf would be serviceable at G, his better college position.

Thought Irv would be a good blocker, but not THAT good.

Would have never guessed Theilen would be the one with the debilitating soft tissue injury

Cook was everything I hoped for until he wasn't

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#2 · Jan 17, 8:06 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
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I thought we were going to win the division...  I expected a regression from Chicago (right) and I didn't think Green Bay would be a serious challenge when you consider they hired a new coach and made some big splashes in FA (typically those are 50/50 whether they pan out, but both Smith's have been a big part of their defensive turnaround... wrong).

I didn't expect our secondary to regress like they did...  that was our biggest Achilles heel this season.  It definitely hurt our 3rd down defense, which wasn't nearly as stout as it was in 2017 and 2018.

I thought Mata'afa would be the surprise pass rushing specialist to fill Tom Johnson's role from years past...  turns out it was Odenigbo who had a phenomenal year off the bench.

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#3 · Jan 17, 8:19 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
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Here's the link from August...
https://vikefans.com/discussion/#/discussion/9201/your-viking-predictions
I hit my 10-6 prediction and was partially correct on saying the NFC North would struggle.

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#4 · Jan 17, 8:21 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
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Thought Sloter would be the #2 

Thought Harris would be re-signed in season,

Thought Weatherly would show as the heir apparent for Grif

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#5 · Jan 17, 8:27 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
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I had 11-5 and going to the SB. Disappointing season for me. 

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#6 · Jan 17, 12:21 PM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
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I thought 10 - 6 was about right. Does that mean they met my expectations? No they did not. When we were 10 - 4 I expected them to beat the Packers and the Bears. They should have raised my expectations. So by beating the Saints it's all forgiven? No because had they did what they needed to do and beat those two teams and even their division record they could have been the 5 seed and just as easily advanced past Philly into the next round.
So they equalled my prediction but that was lowered anyhow. With what we've been being sold my expectations should have been 12-4 going in.
Did not expect 2-4 in the North.
They will not likely be better then 8 or 9 wins any time now till we have changes.
It's getting stale here now.
New season, new OC, same story...

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#7 · Jan 17, 1:06 PM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
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If they had their Starters in against the Bears they would have inarguably been 11-5. Which was my guess. I predicted the OZBS would cover some O-Line warts and that Dalvin would splash.

I also feared Green Bay. They finally got a real pass rush in the Smiths and I've been high on Jones. And I knew Trubisky would suck and that the Turnover dependent Defense would regress to the mean.

What I got wrong was Elf, Rhodes and Waynes being below Replacement Level Players. And Linval not rebounding after supposedly getting healthy.

1 and Done in the Playoffs was my prediction. How it happened was completely different than I thought. I also had zero idea the 9ers Defense would turn into Clubber Lang.

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#8 · Jan 17, 1:29 PM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
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Assumed we would be competitive with a few stinkers.  Figured 10-13 wins.
Always know the season will end in sadness, but over was happy with beating the Saints, again.

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#9 · Jan 17, 1:44 PM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

Things I was wrong about.

- I thought Elflein's poor play was due to nothing going right for him in 2018.  Wrong

- Resigning Stephens with Joseph was gonna stop the run game.

- I thought the cornerbacks were gonna be too 5.

- I thought the Vikings Special Teams were gonna struggle. Malouf  was outstanding and  brought consistency and improvement.

https://www.vikings.com/news/numbers-of-note-vikings-2019-special-teams

- Irv Smith is a complete football player, I knew he could catch and beat LB's, Safetys and CB's I didn't know he could block

T

Kubiak and Co.-was the best off-season move the Vikings made.

Cook and mattison would be av top 5 dup at RB.

Morgan was the Vikings best run blocking lineman, the running game would've been even better. Had he not been injured.

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#10 · Jan 17, 2:12 PM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

Overall, I think the team was better than I thought they'd be.  The running game clicked, and Zim's D played better than I expected.
They made the playoffs, and I didn't think they would.  So I guess going 1-1 in the post season isn't the worst season a team can have, but winning is contagious and you want more and more.

Hopefully they can improve next season, and I believe that's possible.

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#11 · Jan 18, 7:22 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

I think the results were about what I figured but not necessarily how they got there.  Never thought the CB's would be a weakness and that Thielen would miss damn near half the season.  If you would have told me these two things prior to the season I would have predicted they'd finish under 500.

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#12 · Jan 18, 8:58 AM
DE
Joined Apr 2026
206,512 posts
Rep: 0

I thought we were a 8-8, 9-7 team, because with Cousins didn't think we would beat the good teams.  He had a much better season than I expected and the team benefited, but unfortunately he returned to his typical play in the big game last week.  

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#13 · Jan 18, 9:54 AM
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