How many wins this year

[mansquatch]

You can say we were a 3 win team and that is what we were and you would be right, but yos veu would also be ignoring a lot of causation. Are you going to say that injuries to our secondary and not having a true LT didn't hurt us? Or that having a rookie QB with no training camp didn't add to our woes?

I think the improvements to the OL will give Ponder the opportunity that he deserves to show us if he is worth investing in. If he can make good on that, then his TO will decrease. That alone will win us more games.

[PurpleMustReign]

16-0. Just kidding!!


I'm at the 7-9 mark. I think they will be improved, especially in the passing game. But I also think their defense will be better (not that it could fget much worse). I believe we will surprise a few teams (GB at home?) but we will lose some real duds (at Indy).

[Just Me]

Pretty early to predict. The linebackers could still see some significant changes. More importantly, I'd really like to see who some of the starters on the offensive line and in the secondary will be. Right now I'm feeling 6-8 wins.

On the (very?) optimistic end of the scale:

Code: Select all

01  Sun, Sep 09  Jacksonville Jaguars    W
02  Sun, Sep 16  @ Indiannapolis Colts   W
03  Sun, Sep 23  San Francisco 49ers     L
04  Sun, Sep 30  @ Detroit Lions         L
05  Sun, Oct 07  Tennessee Titans        L
06  Sun, Oct 14  @ Washington Redskins   W
07  Sun, Oct 21  Arizona Cardinals       L
08  Thu, Oct 25  Tampa Bay Buccaneers    W
09  Sun, Nov 04  @ Seattle Seahawks      W
10  Sun, Nov 11  Detroit Lions           W
11  Bye
12  Sun, Nov 25  @ Chicago Bears         L
13  Sun, Dec 02  @ Green Bay Packers     L
14  Sun, Dec 09  Chicago Bears           W
15  Sun, Dec 16  @ St. Louis Rams        W
16  Sun, Dec 23  @ Houston Texans        L
17  Sun, Dec 30  Green Bay Packers       L

While you did admit to the prediction being optimistic, I have to say that this scenario has us winning 4 road games. Even in our 2009 season didn't we only win 4 road games? I like to stay optimistic but I think that 6-10 or 7-9 is what we are probably looking at. Here's to hoping you are right and I am wrong (on your optimistic prediction - we are pretty close on what we think will "probably" be the case)

[vikeinmontana]

The fact that you used the great word "causation" made me agree with whatever you had to say. But as it turns out I agree with you anyway as I forgot about the injuries which made our bad secondary even worse. As for Ponder i think the team has been brought up to a degree where there are no obvious or glaring weaknesses in the sense that it's all there for Ponder, he just has to show us what he has. I think our defense will end up keeping us at 5 or 6 wins at the least and the rest is up to Ponder. Either way I think everyone will know this season what Ponder's future in the NFL is going to be.

i don't disagree with you guys in theory. however, the vikes are not alone in a bubble. there are 31 other teams that also made many moves to improve this year. sure, if we could find way to go back in time and play last year all over again with the same teams all having identical rosters....but we were the one team that got to keep a year under their belt....i'd agree we should be a better team. however, this is not the case. we are playing teams that don't look great on paper because of what we saw them do last year. we need to remember that they all can make a case that they are better than last year too.

if every team on our roster is just as bad/good as they were last year, then with our schedule i'd agree that the vikes could be a 8+ win team. however, it does not seem realistic to assume that we made moves to improve across the board....and the other 31 teams will be as average or the exact same as they were last season.

[Mothman]

You have to ask yourselves this, how do we compare to last year. We were 3-13. The problem with that figure is Donovan McNabb played a big part in that, and disrupted the rhythm and morale of the team. My point is I don't believe we were a "3-13" caliber team last year. So if you took last year's roster starting in October i think you'd automatically bump up to 5-11.

Then you look at if we got better or worse at our positions in the offseason? As far as losses, did we lose anybody of significance that wasn't riddled with injury or had seen too many winters? I can't think of anybody.

It remains to be seen but Hutchinson, Shiancoe and Kleinsasser all come to mind. Had Hutch and Sauce "seen too many winters"? They certainly weren't in their prime but they were still good, productive players at their respective positions and it's not clear if they have been adequately replaced. It's conceivable that the positions/roles they played have been downgraded. The same could be true at MLB. E.J. wasn't exactly at his best last season but that doesn't mean Brinkley will be better.

If our improved secondary can cover guys long enough for our league leading pass rush, opposing offenses are going to get crushed. And if our line can buy Ponder enough time to develop his skills and throw the ball to our growing number of ballcatchers, than our offense will reap the benefits too.

Bottom line is our offense is better, and so is our defense. I personally believe our key improvement in o-line and secondary are going to raise the production of the entire team, but we'll see. At the least we are now a "8-8" caliber team. Depending on how the league evolves this season and injuries and such I could see us winning 8-10. As for our division opponents, the Lions didn't do much to improve their defense, we almost beat the Packers in Ponder's very first game, and the Bears will always suck! So I'm not afraid of them. otherwise we have a lot of other jobber teams to play like the Jags, Seahawks, Colts, etc.

We are MUCH better than last year and I don't understand how some of you picture a 5-11 season. Pessimism I guess ...

I think it's more like caution or perhaps realism but we're ALL just guessing. You could be right about everything you said but an awful lot of the improvement you're certain about remains to be seen and while teams do sometimes improve in the W/L column by 5+ games in a single season, I don't think we're all prepared to say the Vikes are an 8-8 team "at the least" or that they're MUCH better. The potential is there for all of that to be true but it's an optimistic view (and there's nothing wrong with that—I hope you're right!).

Consider the OL: they should be better with Kalil but both guard positions could be downgraded or remain roughly the same and Loadholt (who was arguably a bigger problem in pass protection than Johnson) remains on the right side. Add in the adjustment time that may be necessary to get the OL playing efficiently with at least 3 changes and throw in Sauce's departure, and the blocking might not be better as a whole this year than it was last year (although for Ponder's sake I sure hope it's better).

[diehardtwinsfan]

We should be improved.

1) easier schedule
2) marked improvement in OL and Secondary
3) Young QB who should improve year 2.

Keep in mind that this team lost a lot of games by a very close margin. They have a lot of star talent, but their surrounding talent was pretty bad. Moving some of that way below average talent to just average should do wonders. I think 8 wins seems pretty reasonable, which also makes them a darkhorse wild card contender... Seems reasonable.

[Eli]

While you did admit to the prediction being optimistic, I have to say that this scenario has us winning 4 road games. Even in our 2009 season didn't we only win 4 road games?

It really is a creampuff schedule once you cross off the division games. If the Vikings improve just a little they should easily handle teams like Indianapolis and St. Louis on the road. Gonna depend a lot on how much those teams can improve themselves. The Colts will be interesting - they could get a whole lot better than last year (and not trying to suck for Luck will help), but the Vikings are lucky enough to face them very early in the season.

It's going to be damned tough for the Vikes to earn a top ten draft pick this year.

[Mothman]

It really is a creampuff schedule once you cross off the division games. If the Vikings improve just a little they should easily handle teams like Indianapolis and St. Louis on the road. Gonna depend a lot on how much those teams can improve themselves. The Colts will be interesting - they could get a whole lot better than last year (and not trying to suck for Luck will help), but the Vikings are lucky enough to face them very early in the season.

It's going to be damned tough for the Vikes to earn a top ten draft pick this year.

I hope so but since they were as much of a creampuff as any other team last year, it's hard to say they should "easily" handle any opponent, especially on the road.

[Just Me]

It really is a creampuff schedule once you cross off the division games. If the Vikings improve just a little they should easily handle teams like Indianapolis and St. Louis on the road. Gonna depend a lot on how much those teams can improve themselves. The Colts will be interesting - they could get a whole lot better than last year (and not trying to suck for Luck will help), but the Vikings are lucky enough to face them very early in the season.

It's going to be damned tough for the Vikes to earn a top ten draft pick this year.

I have a friend who has Colts season tickets (4 rows from the field) and he offered the Vikings game tickets to me (knowing what a fan I am) so I will be at that game. While this could be billed as "The Big Battle of 'Who Cares'", I am looking forward to seeing how our new draft picks play. Indianapolis road trip in September!

[dead_poet]

I think it's important to realize that the Vikings will be one of the youngest teams this year and that rookies will have some growing pains as they develop. 8-8 would be considered a pretty big step forward in the right direction this season, if not an optimistic prediction. I think they can maybe get 6. Any more than that is gravy as far as I'm concerned. Ponder is key, as is the coaching staff's ability to make better adjustments and close games out. Even with the addition of Kalil, I don't expect our line to be significantly better than last season. I really hope I'm wrong.

[Eli]

I have a friend who has Colts season tickets (4 rows from the field) and he offered the Vikings game tickets to me (knowing what a fan I am) so I will be at that game. While this could be billed as "The Big Battle of 'Who Cares'", I am looking forward to seeing how our new draft picks play. Indianapolis road trip in September!

Any game in which Andrew Luck plays this year, especially at the start of the season, will be far from a 'who cares'. I'm really interested in seeing what Luck and Fleener do and how much a QB and a couple of rookie TEs can turn around an abysmal football team. It's almost a page out the Vikings rebuilding strategy.

[The Breeze]

I say no worse than 7 wins.

[Purple bruise]

I am predicting 9 wins with the outside shot at a wildcard.
The division is tough but the Bears, Lions and Packers all have to either win or lose when they play eachother just like whe the Vikes play them. I see a huge turn around with improved play by Ponder, upgrades to the secondary, o-line and receivers.

[PurpleKoolaid]

3 wins. Our coaching staff is basically unchanged. And unlike a lot here, i do think average players can look like talented players with the right coaching. Hopefully Fraizer is gone from this team a year from now. And we still have Ponder, even if he has more time passing, I expect nothing from him.

I do think with Spielamn in charge now and accountable 2 years from now we could be a 9-10 win team and maybe sneak in the playoffs. But this year is going to be as hard as last.

And this is me being optimistic. Im starting to have a little faith Spielman has a plan.

[mefford76]

5-11
I believe we play in the toughest division in football right now except for maybe the AFC North. My win record is more a reflection of that then the Vikings talent. I find it very difficult to believe that we win a division game this year.