Who will be King in the North?

[vike daddy]

This NFL is nuts. Period. We are a third of the way through the NFL season, and it's already a league where little makes sense.

Before the season, the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers were considered three of the top teams in the NFC, if not the top three. Six weeks in, they are a combined 9-9 -- or just three of the many mediocre teams in the NFL.

The Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs have lived up to their preseason expectations, but the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins, three teams many tagged as playoff teams, are all 3-3.

Right now, there is a lot of mediocrity in the NFL.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-week-7-power-rankings-trying-to-make-sense-of-a-chaotic-unpredictable-first-third-of-the-season/?fbclid=IwAR0MHAU5nrSGfhkAPJMJIyQYB3Rm775P4jJoKWDeHrK_bsbhzoFoTbgVw5Q

 

well, we know how to be mediocre....

[vike daddy]

Kirk Cousins: "It's very much the inverse of 2021. I would walk off the field after a loss and say: 'Man, we're playing so well. We're playing so well!' Somehow, some way, we lost. This year, it's, 'Gosh, we can play better.' But we win. I'll take this any day."

https://www.vikings.com/news/nfl-power-rankings-firmly-top-5-territory?fbclid=IwAR2RnFe79lnZZ0WVRO5n3pnVlMkoCY4iVOMQO6ibEC1D2i43M9Al5YUhPX8

[vikingsrule]

3 minutes ago, vike daddy said:

Kirk Cousins: "It's very much the inverse of 2021. I would walk off the field after a loss and say: 'Man, we're playing so well. We're playing so well!' Somehow, some way, we lost. This year, it's, 'Gosh, we can play better.' But we win. I'll take this any day."

https://www.vikings.com/news/nfl-power-rankings-firmly-top-5-territory?fbclid=IwAR2RnFe79lnZZ0WVRO5n3pnVlMkoCY4iVOMQO6ibEC1D2i43M9Al5YUhPX8

Benefits of having a last place schedule, being healthy and regularly playing backup caliber QBs. Just hope they can actually start playing better and continue to win. But I’ll take the result given it’s the first year of a significant regime change. 

[SemperFeist]

2 hours ago, vikingsrule said:

Benefits of having a last place schedule

What?

The Vikings are playing a 2nd place schedule. 

[Captain Relax]

14 hours ago, vikingsrule said:

Benefits of having a last place schedule, being healthy and regularly playing backup caliber QBs. 

The Vikings often play back up qbs poorly, making it appear that they are all-pros! I usually hope that we don't play backups for that reason.

[swede700]

13 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

What?

The Vikings are playing a 2nd place schedule. 

Definitely don't have a last place schedule...unless he's considering it based off the teams they've played thus far.  Even then, those teams were around .500 (just under as I recall) last season.  

[vikingsrule]

Just now, swede700 said:

Definitely don't have a last place schedule...unless he's considering it based off the teams they've played thus far.  Even then, those teams were around .500 (just under as I recall) last season.  

If our opponents keep trotting out backup QBs it will look that way. But then again our division rivals are mostly playing the same teams, they might just catch them at a different time. Seriously though, we’ve played a backup QB in what 3 of 6 games so far (sorry counting Fields as a backup because he plays like one). 
 

When do we actually start to play really good QBs? We played one with Hurts and that didn’t end well. Does Rodgers rebound? I know Josh Allen and Dak Prescott are coming up as higher tier QBs. Who else? Rodgers will probably be playing at a high level come Week 17. Maybe Kyler Murray counts as a higher tier QB, I’ve never been a fan.

As it stands, outside of Allen and Prescott we will face Murray, Heinicke, Mac Jones, Zach Wilson, Goff, Matt Ryan, Daniel Jones and Fields. No reason why this team shouldn’t beat every single one of these below average QBs. Which leaves me concerned once we play playoff caliber teams and QBs, how will the defense respond after having a fairly easy go at it against poor QBs. But we’ve also seen mobile QBs shred this defense over the years and surprisingly good backup QB play like Rush beating us last year and Fields actually having a respectable game against us.
 

 

[swede700]

14 minutes ago, vikingsrule said:

If our opponents keep trotting out backup QBs it will look that way. But then again our division rivals are mostly playing the same teams, they might just catch them at a different time. Seriously though, we’ve played a backup QB in what 3 of 6 games so far (sorry counting Fields as a backup because he plays like one). 
 

When do we actually start to play really good QBs? We played one with Hurts and that didn’t end well. Does Rodgers rebound? I know Josh Allen and Dak Prescott are coming up as higher tier QBs. Who else? Rodgers will probably be playing at a high level come Week 17. Maybe Kyler Murray counts as a higher tier QB, I’ve never been a fan.

As it stands, outside of Allen and Prescott we will face Murray, Heinicke, Mac Jones, Zach Wilson, Goff, Matt Ryan, Daniel Jones and Fields. No reason why this team shouldn’t beat every single one of these below average QBs. Which leaves me concerned once we play playoff caliber teams and QBs, how will the defense respond after having a fairly easy go at it against poor QBs. But we’ve also seen mobile QBs shred this defense over the years and surprisingly good backup QB play like Rush beating us last year and Fields actually having a respectable game against us.
 

 

I think the fears are warranted, but I think the great majority of the NFL teams have come around to where the Vikings have been for the past few years...masters of mediocrity.  So, since they're the experts at it, they're taking advantage.  🤣

I'd like to think that they can get better as the season goes along, as will the rest of the league.  However, the lack of offseason preparation makes the go slow for pretty much everyone, so the teams that can make hay now will get an advantage later on.

I, for one, do not believe Kyler Murray can be considered a higher-tier QB...for fantasy leagues maybe, but that's it.  He's not a higher-tier QB in the sense of what value he brings to the position.  He's not a particularly good leader and he doesn't make particularly good decisions with the ball.  I think, next to Baker Mayfield before he finally came home to roost as not a very good QB, he'll be next in that line.  I've never been all that impressed with Kyler when I watched him play.  His personality doesn't rub me the wrong way like Mayfield's does though, so that's a plus.  😉 

[vike daddy]

13 minutes ago, swede700 said:

I think the great majority of the NFL teams have come around to where the Vikings have been for the past few years...masters of mediocrity.  So, since they're the experts at it, they're taking advantage.  🤣

 

[JDBrocks]

Packers or Bears need to win out and the Vikings need to play .500 football the rest of the way to lose the division.

[SteelKing728]

So, I really overestimated the Lions this season.

[vikesfan89]

12 minutes ago, SteelKing728 said:

So, I really overestimated the Lions this season.

A lot of people did for some reason

[Captain Relax]

The Vikings aren't the King yet, but they are the Crown Prince, with the reigning King (Packers) slipping on a banana peel while on life support!

[SemperFeist]

9 minutes ago, vikesfan89 said:

A lot of people did for some reason

Emotional attachment from Hard Knocks. 

[swede700]

1 hour ago, SteelKing728 said:

So, I really overestimated the Lions this season.

As I've said repeatedly, the Lions are the Lions until they prove otherwise.  They haven't proved otherwise in your entire lifetime.  They haven't been relevant since the day that Barry Sanders retired.