Time For 2012 W/L Predictions

[mansquatch]

I’m going to get all crazy and say 7-9! I think that if our CB can stay healthy then our defense is going to be quite capable of generating 3 and outs. Our OL is on the rise and Gerhart is a bruiser style back who can grind out some tough yards. The key to it all is the QB limiting mistakes and making enough throws to keep the opposing defense honest. That is the central question for this season IMO.

[NextQuestion]

Mothman. You are correct connecting me to the Vikings due to the Tarkenton connection with the Giants. He never got his just do because of guys like Bradshaw, Staubach, Namath, Stabler, Brodie, Unitas, etc... He was exciting to watch and would somehow get the job done. All except Super Bowls. The defenses always played well. The offenses would have little time of possession and the defenses would crack in the 2nd half of those Super Bowl losses. At least we're not Bills fans. I couldn't imagine losing 4 in a row..I'll stick with my prediction of 3-4 wins and hope I'm wrong. I can't help looking at Frazier and seeing a black Bud Grant. Hat, headset, absolutely no facial expression at all. Don't know if he's at a new years eve party or a funeral.

Bud Grant only Frazier can't win.

[Just Me]

Bud Grant only Frazier can't win.

I feel obligated to point this out - Bud Grant has only 3 wins his first season at HC, too. Now that's a little deceptive as they only played 14 games then and Grant also managed to get 3 ties along with his 3 wins, so he certainly lost fewer games than Frazier. But, if your wanting to suggest that a 3-8-3 season puts him "head and shoulders" above Frazier's first season, I don't know about that. It should be noted (if we're making the comparison) that Grant turned the team around to 8-6 in his seond year. If Frazier manages to get 8 wins out of this squad, I agree with the poster that supports a statue of him be erected in his honor. I don't have a W-L goal. I want to see if Ponder plays well enough to determine he is our long-term answer at QB. I want to see improved safety play, and pass coverage in general from everyone. I think the latter is a tall enough order that if I see both accomplished we should get around 6 wins (with our scheduled).

Just my 2 cents...

[Laserman]

Anything more than 4 wins will require a miracle and alot of luck. Let's face it, our team is really bad. We Will be for another 2-3 seasons at best until draft picks begin to mature. Across the board with very few exeptions we are very very very weak at almost every position. I won't be paying for the NFL ticket for awhile. I look for us to be drafting in the top 3 next draft

[Just Me]

Anything more than 4 wins will require a miracle and alot of luck. Let's face it, our team is really bad. We Will be for another 2-3 seasons at best until draft picks begin to mature. Across the board with very few exeptions we are very very very weak at almost every position. I won't be paying for the NFL ticket for awhile. I look for us to be drafting in the top 3 next draft

I'm not sure it's quite that bad.

Don't get me wrong: It's not that I can't imagine us picking in the top 3 (after winning only 4 games) it's just that I don't think it's that much of a stretch for us to show improvement this year. Last year, despite everything against us, including a washed up veteran QB who obviously was around to just collect a paycheck and a defense that thinks pass coverage refers to interviewing opposing receivers for the nightly news after they've scored a TD; we still managed 3 wins. I think we get 4 wins just with a "normal" off-season and if we can actually remember what a pass-defense is supposed to look like, we might just gain a win or two more. Maybe the Vikes fielding an average pass-defense was the miracle you were referring to

In short, I wouldn't be shocked with only 4 wins, but I think the Vikes do better. Playoffs? (Insert Mora Meltdown here) No. I think they can show improvement, however. My question is: If they do improve (by however we define it) but it doesn't show up in the W column at the end of the season, do you think the Viking fans will be patient? (I realize it really only matters if the Wilf's are patient, but anyway...) If Ponder somehow has a good year but we still end up with 3 wins, will (or should) Frazier be shown the door? Just me thinking (typing) out loud....

[Mothman]

Don't get me wrong: It's not that I can't imagine us picking in the top 3 (after winning only 4 games) it's just that I don't think it's that much of a stretch for us to show improvement this year. Last year, despite everything against us, including a washed up veteran QB who obviously was around to just collect a paycheck and a defense that thinks pass coverage refers to interviewing opposing receivers for the nightly news after they've scored a TD; we still managed 3 wins. I think we get 4 wins just with a "normal" off-season and if we can actually remember what a pass-defense is supposed to look like, we might just gain a win or two more. Maybe the Vikes fielding an average pass-defense was the miracle you were referring to

LOL!

The Vikes were close enough in a number of games last year that they could actually end up being pretty good this year. It's really tough to say until we see them play some games that count. Their defense looked dominant at times early last season. If they can improve against the pass and get more support from the offense, they might be able to turn some early games against beatable opponents into wins and momentum for the rest of the season. If they didn't play in such a tough division I think there would be a little more reason for optimism but the Bears, Packers and Lions all represent formidable challenges and decent chunk of the schedule.

In short, I wouldn't be shocked with only 4 wins, but I think the Vikes do better. Playoffs? (Insert Mora Meltdown here) No. I think they can show improvement, however. My question is: If they do improve (by however we define it) but it doesn't show up in the W column at the end of the season, do you think the Viking fans will be patient?

Some will but I think the majority will be impatient.

[mansquatch]

I think it comes down to inuries (ie the secondary) and whether or not Ponder can develop. If Ponder can give us Alex Smith numbers and our CB can stay on the field we'll do fine.

[mondry]

I'm gonna go with 8-8. The first 8 games are just crazy easy, i wouldn't be surprised if we were 5-3 or 6-2 after that, then they only snag 2-3 more wins in the last 8 cause as easy as the first half is, the second half looks pretty brutal.

We lost 9 games by a TD or less and obviously woulda shoulda coulda doesn't matter at all, however, we had freaking mcnabb playing for QB, we had guys off the street starting at CB. No camp or anything for a rookie QB. I'm not trying to make excuses, other bad things could happen this year or whatever, some are unavoidable, however, to think the team will only win 3 games this year just doesn't compute. That would mean losing 5 games to some combination of jags, colts, titans, redskins, cardinals, bucs, seahawks, and rams, while also losing every single game we "should lose." I give that about a 5% chance of happening.

I think we get a few bounces our way this year and the team improves enough to get those close wins,

[hibbingviking]

vikings get #1 pick in 2013 nfl draft.

[yezzir]

7-9. The 4 game improvement will allow Frazier and his super best friends coaching staff another year.

[hibbingviking]

vikings will be in last place in the "norris" divison. offense has looked anemic in the preseason.

[akvikingsfan]

One day before the start of the season and I'll throw my prediction in here. I believe we will win between 6 and 10 games. It all depends on the offensive play. I believe our defense is good enough to keep us close (no blow outs) but I'm not sure if our offense can put up the points needed to win the games. If Peterson comes back strong and Ponder grows as a QB I could see us winning closer to 10 games. But if Peterson has lost a step and Ponder doesn't develop it can be another long season for us fans. My prediction is that we will be 9-7 with an outside chance of making the playoffs (as a wild card) late in the season, but we lose too many games down the stretch and miss the wildcard by 1 game.

[Greg]

Revising my earlier 4-12 to a now optimistic 7-9

[J. Kapp 11]

I've been giving this a lot of careful thought.

Running the numbers over and over, analyzing the roster, studying the Vikings' opponents carefully, filtering through Leslie Frazier's tendencies (both in-game and pre-game, including meals), factoring in the potentially reduced role of Adrian Peterson, adjusting for Christian Ponder's probability to either grow or regress, estimating the points-per-game differential caused by our secondary's youth/lack of talent, calculating the Chris-Kluwe-is-a-rock-god-in-his-own-mind effect, compensating for the number of 70+ yard field goals Blair Walsh is likely to make, and extrapolating the potential effect of weather on our home games, I have concluded with a reasonably high degree of certainty ...

... we will NOT lose more than 16 games.

Go big or go home, I always say.

[The Breeze]

Hard to get a feel for this years Vikes. Their defense could keep them in games if they are healthy and play together. If Ponder gets time and matures some in the decision dept. I could see them winning 8-9....but it's just as easy seeing them struggle to win 5-7.

Neither will surprise me unfortunately. I just want to see improvement in the trenches and the secondary, without stepping back elsewhere.

I'll say 8-8