What the bye week taught us about the Vikings

We all got a nice, welcome one week respite from the weekly strokes the 2021 Minnesota Vikings have been providing/inflicting. But there was still a lot to learn with what went on during a purple free Sunday.

I personally watched almost all of the Chiefs-Titans game. And I saw the Titans blow the 2 time defending AFC champs off the field.

What happened to the Chiefs in the last super bowl was already a very educational display of what can happen to even the very best quarterbacks when their offensive line is being manhandled. But many refused to learn from their mistake, that being the years of blaming Kirk Cousins for not just automatically overcoming bad OL play, as all great QBs are allegedly supposed to do every single time. Now we see even more how the Chiefs poor OL play impacts Mahomes, as does having a terrible defense, another issue the Vikings have had at times during the Kirk era (primarily 2020) and which has been blamed ON Kirk. Just because you CAN put up 30+ every week doesn't mean it should be an obligation. 

Fact is no QB can consistently overcome a bad OL or a bad defense. Having both be bad makes it even more impossible, particularly against good teams. 

Also, funny how the Chiefs OL has not magically become great after throwing all that money at Joe Thuney, whose not signing here many Vikings critics trashed Kirk over, saying that his contract prevented the Vikings from adding players like Thuney. The Chiefs aren't even paying Mahomes top dollar yet, and DID sign Thuney, and look how that worked out.

This was also a rough day for the "we should have drafted Justin Fields" crowd. Back on draft night much of this moronic fanbase was furious that we did not trade up to draft Fields, and when we didn't these fans were all convinced Fields was instantly Canton bound. How dare we stick with Kirk? 

Well, 7 weeks in and Kirk is playing his best football ever, while Fields looks about as bad as any highly drafted rookie QB ever has. Fields may still figure it out, although I can't recall a high draft pick QB ever looking THIS putrid to start and then becoming a star. At least if Kellen Mond is a bust he was just a 3rd rounder.

Hey, remember when the Vikings lost at Cincinnati week 1 and it was framed as the most inexcusable, shameful defeat in the history of the western world? Well, week 7 ends with the Bengals as the top seed in the AFC after they went into Baltimore and really put it to the previously top seeded Ravens. The Bengals are legitimately a very good team. And if not for a phantom fumble we beat them in their building. Pair that with the Arizona loss and we lost the first 2 on the road at the 2 top seeds by 4 total points. Yeah, losses, but to top echelon teams.

Yeah the Panthers followed up their OT loss to the Vikings by playing quite poorly and losing to the Giants, and getting Sam Darnold benched, so I'm sure that will be used as ammo by the Fire Zimmers. But they should also mention how the Lions gave the Rams quite a scare in LA.

The Vikings will finish the week at worst tied for the last wild card spot, and yeah October 24th is too early to really be analyzing playoff races that won't be decided until January, but just look at the NFC and tell me why the Vikings can't at least get in the playoffs.

You can pretty much lock in 5 playoff teams: Dallas, Tampa, Arizona, the Rams, and the Packers (whose own schedule finally toughens up soon). 

But look at everything else. The NFC has a handful of teams that have no chance (Lions, Giants, WFT) and a whole lot of teams currently sitting at 2 or 3 wins that, I'm sorry, are clearly inferior to the Vikings. The Saints technically have the spot ahead of us right now but don't scare anybody. Seattle will have a shot if Wilson is back sooner than later, but we have beaten them. But the 49ers are kind of a mess. We get them too.  Nobody is scary at all. Even with the tough schedule the Vikings are the best of these teams currently sitting in wild card contention. (And yes, the division is still in play with both Packer games left)

I see 10-7. It might not prove enough to win the north, but a 10 win team that has been thoroughly battle tested can be a dangerous beast in the postseason.