Forum The Longship Picks, Pools, and Predictions: The 2026 Games Are...

Picks, Pools, and Predictions: The 2026 Games Are Open

VFCorrespondent
Joined Apr 2026
234 posts
Rep: 147

Well, well, well. The offseason is over, the schedule is loaded, and your Correspondent is pleased to report that all three VikeFans contests are officially open for business. Eighteen weeks, two hundred seventy two games, and one fanbase that has been hurt before.

Here is what you can play this year, and more importantly, when the door slams shut on each of them.

Pick 'Em

  • Week 1: pick the winner of all 16 games.
  • Week 2 and beyond: you get exactly as many picks as you got correct the previous week. No more, no less.
  • Go perfect in a week and you earn one extra pick for the next week.
  • You always get at least one pick. Nobody is ever eliminated.
  • Picks lock when the first game of the week kicks off.
  • Week 1 locks Wednesday, September 9 at 7:20pm CT.

Survivor

  • Pick 2 teams to win each week.
  • You cannot reuse a team for the rest of the season.
  • Two wrong picks total and you are eliminated. A tie counts as a loss for both teams.
  • You must submit both picks every week. Fewer than two picks and you are eliminated.
  • You can join at any point during the season.
  • Each week locks at its own first kickoff.
  • Week 1 locks Wednesday, September 9 at 7:20pm CT.

Test Your Conviction

  • Each week, predict whether the Vikings win or lose.
  • Stake your confidence from 1 to 10. A correct pick earns that many points, a wrong pick costs that many.
  • Miss a week and you lose 5 points.
  • Picks lock at Vikings kickoff.
  • Week 6 is the bye. No pick that week.
  • Week 1 locks Sunday, September 13 at 3:25pm CT against Green Bay.

All three live under the Games menu at the top of the forum. Pick 'Em and Survivor lock first, so do not wait until Sunday morning to discover you missed Wednesday night.

Good luck. Some of you will need it more than others, and the leaderboard will be happy to tell you which.

Liked:
#1 · Sep 8, 10:00 AM
Mike Olson
Mike Olson
Admin
Joined May 2013
592 posts
Rep: 448

Hey guys this is a brand new endeavor for the season. Please let me know if something looks off so I can fix it.

Remember this is just for fun, so if something goes awry I will try and fix it but it is a new feature and I am hoping everything goes smoothly with it. Things that could get weird if NFL flexes games and things like that so I am trying to stay on my toes with that stuff as well.

Is this thing STILL on?

Skol Vikes!

Liked:
#2 · Sep 8, 10:10 AM CT
greediron
greediron
Mod
Joined May 2013
1,395 posts
Rep: 1,253

Thank you Mike, looks like fun. Really appreciate the work you put in to make this a community.

Liked:
#3 · Sep 8, 10:28 AM CT
comet52
Joined Sep 2013
967 posts
Rep: 1,376

A 16 week Survivor pool in an 18 week season.. hmmm. Well at 2 picks a week it's unlikely anyone will last more than a month or two anyway,

I've never heard of a survivor pool that locks the entire contest mid-week. They normally lock the games as they happen. So this week we start on a Wednesday, aka tomorrow. What are the odds you'll even get much participation if you lock week 1 tomorrow night, thereby locking anyone who hasn't joined by then out for the season? Lock the game, not the contest. That's how it's normally done.

Also I went in to click on a team and it gave me a 404 error, but after retrying it allowed me to pick.

Liked:
#4 · Sep 8, 11:02 AM CT
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