Minnesota Vikings: Home sweet home
The Minnesota Vikings will play in US Bank Stadium for the 2016 NFL season, but can the new stadium help to push the team to become an elite franchise?
The NFL season is the most joyous time of year for fans of all ages, who have been waiting through the whole offseason to erase away the painful images of how their favorite teams season ended, at least for 31 of 32 teams.
Related Story: Minnesota Vikings 2016 season preview
With the inaugural season of our Minnesota Vikings playing in the almost completed U.S. Bank stadium less than 100 days away, I began to wonder if home field advantage has benefited past teams in their inaugural seasons. Between 1997 and 2010, 16 teams opened play in new stadiums. This figure does not count for expansion teams, only established teams moving into new homes.
What could possibly be better than a team’s home opener? Seeing your teams logo at midfield, the team’s name emblazoned in the endzone, and hearing the roar of your home crowd every time your home colors step on the field… It almost seems impossible for the home team to lose amidst such excitement.
The fact of the matter is that those teams, have gone 8-8 on opening day. The Jets and the Giants, who share New Meadowlands Stadium, took a split in 2010 with the Giants being the team to emerge victorious. In 2009, it was those same Giants who ruined the Cowboys opening of Cowboys Stadium (aka The Palace in Dallas),and in 2008 the Colts lost in their opener of Lucas Oil Stadium. So 3 out of the last 4 were losses… Was it too much hype? Over confidence? Not likely…
The NFL is full of great teams, great rivalries, and very smart people who make the schedules. How can the NFL capitalize on the popularity of the first games? Send in a teams biggest rival and see if they can play the spoiler.
More from The Viking Age
- 6 biggest draft steals in Minnesota Vikings history
- Former Vikings first-round pick could reportedly return to NFC North
- Bears analyst has extremely embarrassing Kirk Cousins take
- 6 Vikings who (maybe) won’t make the 53-man roster in 2023
- Predicting what the Vikings will do in the 2023 NFL Draft based on 2022
They sure did it to our Vikings, the Green Bay Packers come to our field to open it up on Sunday Night Football during Week 2. The Pack is again favored to win the NFC North, they were last year as well, and we all know how that worked out! Would a loss on opening day spell doom for the entire season? No. For the aforementioned 16 teams, they had a combined record of 72-45-1 for their first seasons.
Our Vikings squad is a very young team looking to diversify its offense, solidify its defense, and to make an identity for itself. A win, in our new home, would, I believe be the first mental building block to fortifying our brand of football. Beating the team to beat is the first step on the path to becoming the team to beat.
Next: Minnesota Vikings 2016 NFL Draft class
We will not win every game at home, but we need the first one. We cannot give it Aaron Rodgers, Mike McCarthy, and the fans of Green Bay. We cannot do it to our home town fans, who, after the abrupt ending to last season need something great to happen early and often in the young season. The excitement of the stadium is not enough, its great, but only winning will truly be the proper coronation for our beautiful new home.