It’s insanely early to be guessing the results of the regular season games for the Minnesota Vikings during the 2015 NFL season. The rosters aren’t set, there are still many injuries that can happen and some major roster moves can still be made. But that doesn’t stop excited folks from taking a peek at the schedule and trying to guess what will happen.
That’s exactly what happened when ESPN’s Ben Goessling took a look at the schedule and broke it down into wins and losses. He went as far to include final scores for each game in his analysis. That’s pretty bold considering how early it is in the NFL and all the question marks that teams still have at multiple positions on their roster. However, it’s always interesting to see how some of the experts out there feel that the Minnesota Vikings will do this year.
Let’s take a look at what he sees as wins and losses for the Minnesota Vikings during the 2015 NFL season:
As you can see, Ben Goessling has the Minnesota Vikings going 9-7 during the 2015 NFL season. At 9-7, it’s possible that the Vikings could have a winning record but miss the playoffs due to how great the NFC North is and how competitive the NFC is. There are some other interesting things to look at in these predictions. Here they are:
Sep 21, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; A Minnesota Vikings helmet on the bench before a game against the New Orleans Saints at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Average Points Scored Per Game: 22.00
Average Points Allowed Per Game: 19.38
Average Margin Of Victory: 9.78
Average Margin Of Defeat: 6.57
According to the 2014 team stats on NFL.com’s website, those numbers would have been good enough for 17th in the league in points scored and make them #8 in the NFL in the fewest points allowed per game. Last year, the Minnesota Vikings ranked 20th in points scored at 20.3 points per game and allowed 21.4 points per game.
That means that Ben Goessling expects the Vikings to score approximately 1.7 more points per game while allowing about 2 fewer points per contest during the 2015 NFL season compared to the 2014 campaign. When you factor in that he expects the Vikings average loss to be less than a touchdown, it seems as though Minnesota’s fans could be in store for more thrilling finishes this year.
What do you guys think? What kind of record to you think the Vikings will end up with and do you think they’ll be in the playoffs this year? Let me know in the comments below.
In the meantime, check out the game by game predictions by our own Drew Mahowald with the link below:
Next: Minnesota Vikings 2015 Game By Game Previews
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