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My buddy Nick and I will be flying to Minnesota on Saturday for our annual trip. Pretty stoked because this is a very winnable game that can put us at 8-3 going into the bye.

Couple things:

I can see this game being a very similar score to the Redskins game this year.

Denver has a pretty darn good defense and Fangio knows how to play Cousins from his time in Chicago. This offense has to get creative in this game. As for the defense, there should be no reason we give up many points this game being at home and going against a no-name QB. Focus on stopping the run and force this guy to beat you.

Also, I'm guessing they hold Linval and Thielen out this game and bring them back for week 13.

If Denver wins it will be because of their defense, most likely creating turnovers and scores off turnovers.

Offensively, Denver is starting a rookie QB, traded away their most established WR mid-season, and really shouldn't be able to consistently move the ball against the Vikings defense. Denver will need to run the ball, and I hope Mike Zimmer doesn't let them. If Denver's offense scores more than 10 points I will be shocked.

Of course, Denver's defense is another story. They are pretty good and should provide the Vikings with a solid test. But this is a home game and, I think, a good chance for the Vikings to see if they can exert their will running.

I don't think Thielen comes back for this game. Zimmer will (rightly) want to give Thielen's hammy as much time as he can before the stretch run, but the Vikings have plenty of receiving options for this upcoming game. As long as Thielen is ready to go against the Seahawks, that will be perfect.

Denver is not a team that should beat the Vikings, but they are also a team coming off a bye that could be overlooked. It will be important for the Vikings to stay locked in and focused on them and not look ahead to the bye or the Seahawks.

You're both correct. This is a game the Vikings should win. It's the NFL and nothing is easy, so I won't predict a blow-out, but on paper this is a mismatch. If we were going into Denver, I would be a lot more nervous.

That said, Denver has a very solid defense, so we may struggle to score a lot of points. Like PHP said, this could mimic the Washington game a lot. Grind out out, keep the clock running. They are giving up over 100 yd/game on the ground, so I expect us to give them a heavy dose of Cook/Mattison and limit the passing. We should be able to keep their O in check enough to accomplish this.

These games always make me nervous, but we have handled teams we are supposed to beat so far this year. I'm hoping this is just more of the same.

I would agree that it seem unlikely that Thielen will play until after the bye. I'm sure he's itching to get back, but hopefully this is a game where we won't need him.

Pondering Her Percy wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:39 pm My buddy Nick and I will be flying to Minnesota on Saturday for our annual trip. Pretty stoked because this is a very winnable game that can put us at 8-3 going into the bye.

Sounds like a blast. Here's hoping you have a great time! Dress warm, winter came early this year!

Stop the run like you did against Dallas and make the backup try to beat you on defense.

Quick passes, run the the football and don't make any costly mistakes on offense.

Win it 13-9.

StumpHunter wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 3:25 pm Stop the run like you did against Dallas and make the backup try to beat you on defense.

Quick passes, run the the football and don't make any costly mistakes on offense.

Win it 13-9.

I hope we score more than 13, but all I care about is the win. I agree with the strategy on D.

I sure hope we sit both Thielen and Joseph. We just won an away game, against a winning team, prime time, under the lights (MAN! it felt good to finally be able to say that!.) We should have no trouble winning this game at home.
Plus, after seeing Seattle yesterday, we're going to need all hands on deck to beat those guys.

I'm sure they wont be running single coverage on the receivers this game, right? Just have to keep Sutton in check. I know Zimmer is going to present random defense packages to through the QB off.
I'd like to see Vikings get a comfortable lead earlier in the game. Obviously this will be difficult because the Broncos defense stepped up after a slow start earlier in the season.

It seems like we are always on the road. Being at home is a huge benefit. Like always our D will need another outstanding performance. Facing a rookie QB should help but you never know. I seen backups play very well against us. So I wouldn't take this as a given. I would think stopping the run will be the main objective. Then putting pressure on comes next. Plus R Drew Lock, who I wanted, is back at practice but I'm not sure he will play. Some have already brought this up but this defense we will face is pretty dam good. I guess they need to go with our strength and that's the ground game. Won't be easy. In the passing game Von Miller is a guy that can blow it up. This is a big test. Much bigger than the Cowboy or Chief D. Hopefully they don't turn it over or allow a bunch of hits and sacks. They need to be patient.

Dames wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 3:16 pm You're both correct. This is a game the Vikings should win. It's the NFL and nothing is easy, so I won't predict a blow-out, but on paper this is a mismatch. If we were going into Denver, I would be a lot more nervous.

That said, Denver has a very solid defense, so we may struggle to score a lot of points. Like PHP said, this could mimic the Washington game a lot. Grind out out, keep the clock running. They are giving up over 100 yd/game on the ground, so I expect us to give them a heavy dose of Cook/Mattison and limit the passing. We should be able to keep their O in check enough to accomplish this.

These games always make me nervous, but we have handled teams we are supposed to beat so far this year. I'm hoping this is just more of the same.

I would agree that it seem unlikely that Thielen will play until after the bye. I'm sure he's itching to get back, but hopefully this is a game where we won't need him.

Yes agreed. My only concern is if Denver sells out to stop the run and does (similar to KC) I hope we have answers in the pass game. What worries me is that (as Kapp put it I think) “Stefkubiak” will game plan with a million different run plays and if it doesn’t work we have no answer. We’ve seen this before in Chicago. Somewhat in KC. They HAVE to be prepared if the run game doesn’t get going. KC didn’t have a good run defense either but they did everything in their power to stop it and did for the most part. We need to hit them with some hard play action this game.

Vikings can still get a 1st round bye but they need the Saints to lose again, and more importantly, keep winning. November is when the contenders rise and pretenders sink, we’ll know a lot about this team in the upcoming weeks.

S197 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 13, 2019 12:05 am Vikings can still get a 1st round bye but they need the Saints to lose again, and more importantly, keep winning. November is when the contenders rise and pretenders sink, we’ll know a lot about this team in the upcoming weeks.

Getting a little ahead of the action. To me our problem is going to be the Packers. They might lose one more game. That means the road will go through Lambo. For the now we need to smash this Bronco squad. The team sucks. Don't have a QB that should be in the NFL. Don't get much easier than that. I don't see how they will score against us. Should be 20 something to 3. Basically resting our guys for the run.

S197 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 13, 2019 12:05 am Vikings can still get a 1st round bye but they need the Saints to lose again, and more importantly, keep winning. November is when the contenders rise and pretenders sink, we’ll know a lot about this team in the upcoming weeks.

The Saints have some problems on offense, but their defense is still very good. Their lose-able games are 9ers, Panthers x 2 and the Colts. I think all 4 of those games the opposing team's offense will struggle to put up any points on that D and if Hoyer is playing for the Colts, the D could put up enough points on its own to win all 4 games.

Pondering Her Percy wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 11:15 pm We need to hit them with some hard play action this game.

We have a QB who does this extremely well

CharVike wrote: ↑Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:11 am

S197 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 13, 2019 12:05 am Vikings can still get a 1st round bye but they need the Saints to lose again, and more importantly, keep winning. November is when the contenders rise and pretenders sink, we’ll know a lot about this team in the upcoming weeks.

Getting a little ahead of the action. To me our problem is going to be the Packers. They might lose one more game. That means the road will go through Lambo. For the now we need to smash this Bronco squad. The team sucks. Don't have a QB that should be in the NFL. Don't get much easier than that. I don't see how they will score against us. Should be 20 something to 3. Basically resting our guys for the run.

As it stands now the Vikings need to keep winning. We also need GB to lose one more game. That will set up a show down for all the marbles in December in Minneapolis. Ideally, the 49ers will do us a solid on Nov 24th and beat the Pack. That game got flexed to Sunday night so get our your Red and Gold!

For the Vikings the major stumbling block is the game in SEA. That is a must win for us. I think if we lose one game we are probably a 6th seed despite being 12-4.

A lot can change between now and then though. The Packers haven't been blowing people out, they've been winning in the margins. They could have a ball bounce the other way and then we have a bigger margin for error. Also, teams like SEA, SF, and NO are all in the thick of their division schedules. We just saw NO get beat by a hapless Falcons team. The playoff picture will likely change a lot in the coming weeks. The NFC in December is going to be fun to watch.