Power Rankings

19. Minnesota (8-9, out of the playoffs)There’s some fresh air over the Vikings with the firing of Mike Zimmer. Lots of players found him too negative at the end of his reign. Despite having above-average talent over the past four years, including quarterback Kirk Cousins, the Vikings have been just 33-31-1 in the regular season since Cousins arrived in 2018—and they’ve averaged finishing 19th in the league in team defense over those four seasons. That was Zimmer’s area of expertise, of course. Now the head coach is a sunny offensive guy, Kevin O’Connell, with a veteran running the defense, Ed Donatell. He’s run a 3-4 recently, but promises to meld three- and four-man fronts in Minnesota. Either way, two defensive imports—end Harrison Phillips (Buffalo) and OLB Za’Darius Smith (Green Bay)—should play big roles if the Donatell system is going to get the Vikings back to playing quality defense.

@"Vikergirl" said: 19. Minnesota (8-9, out of the playoffs)There’s some fresh air over the Vikings with the firing of Mike Zimmer. Lots of players found him too negative at the end of his reign. Despite having above-average talent over the past four years, including quarterback Kirk Cousins, the Vikings have been just 33-31-1 in the regular season since Cousins arrived in 2018—and they’ve averaged finishing 19th in the league in team defense over those four seasons. That was Zimmer’s area of expertise, of course. Now the head coach is a sunny offensive guy, Kevin O’Connell, with a veteran running the defense, Ed Donatell. He’s run a 3-4 recently, but promises to meld three- and four-man fronts in Minnesota. Either way, two defensive imports—end Harrison Phillips (Buffalo) and OLB Za’Darius Smith (Green Bay)—should play big roles if the Donatell system is going to get the Vikings back to playing quality defense.

@"StickyBun" said:

@"Vikergirl" said: 19. Minnesota (8-9, out of the playoffs)There’s some fresh air over the Vikings with the firing of Mike Zimmer. Lots of players found him too negative at the end of his reign. Despite having above-average talent over the past four years, including quarterback Kirk Cousins, the Vikings have been just 33-31-1 in the regular season since Cousins arrived in 2018—and they’ve averaged finishing 19th in the league in team defense over those four seasons. That was Zimmer’s area of expertise, of course. Now the head coach is a sunny offensive guy, Kevin O’Connell, with a veteran running the defense, Ed Donatell. He’s run a 3-4 recently, but promises to meld three- and four-man fronts in Minnesota. Either way, two defensive imports—end Harrison Phillips (Buffalo) and OLB Za’Darius Smith (Green Bay)—should play big roles if the Donatell system is going to get the Vikings back to playing quality defense.

I get this take completely from a national perspective. Its logical and safe from a prediction standpoint. We who are close to the trees, might see a little more optimism than this as we know more about the blown leads, being in games with good teams, etc. but ultimately its about wins. But conversely you can also say teams mostly have a learning curve in that first year with a new O and D. The Vikings would have to beat the odds in that respect. Continuity almost always benefits a team from an execution perspective. The curse of the recent Minnesota Vikings is that they haven't had the defense to help that productive offense under Cousins. 

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"Vikergirl" said: 19. Minnesota (8-9, out of the playoffs)There’s some fresh air over the Vikings with the firing of Mike Zimmer. Lots of players found him too negative at the end of his reign. Despite having above-average talent over the past four years, including quarterback Kirk Cousins, the Vikings have been just 33-31-1 in the regular season since Cousins arrived in 2018—and they’ve averaged finishing 19th in the league in team defense over those four seasons. That was Zimmer’s area of expertise, of course. Now the head coach is a sunny offensive guy, Kevin O’Connell, with a veteran running the defense, Ed Donatell. He’s run a 3-4 recently, but promises to meld three- and four-man fronts in Minnesota. Either way, two defensive imports—end Harrison Phillips (Buffalo) and OLB Za’Darius Smith (Green Bay)—should play big roles if the Donatell system is going to get the Vikings back to playing quality defense.

I get this take completely from a national perspective. Its logical and safe from a prediction standpoint. We who are close to the trees, might see a little more optimism than this as we know more about the blown leads, being in games with good teams, etc. but ultimately its about wins. But conversely you can also say teams mostly have a learning curve in that first year with a new O and D. The Vikings would have to beat the odds in that respect. Continuity almost always benefits a team from an execution perspective. The curse of the recent Minnesota Vikings is that they haven't had the defense to help that productive offense under Cousins. 

Media power rankings formula: Look at team's record the previous year, factor in additions, subtractions, make prediction. And if you ignore game scripts, schedule and injuries, something peculiar happens: rankings are remarkably the same as how the teams finished last year! Lather, rinse, repeat...

Except there's a problem. Teams never finish like the power rankings predicted they would. Ever.

Just once I want to see someone in the media with the vision to predict turnarounds for teams like Tampa, a team who went 7-9 the year before their Lombardi. Or a Bengals team who won 4 games before their Super Bowl season. Or a beat up Falcons team in '97 who hired a new coach and turned 3-13 into 14-2. Or how about the 2018 Rams, who hired McVeigh and turned a 4-12 team into 11-5 and then 13-3.