4. 2018 Vikings
A few months after their season ended just one win away from playing in a Super Bowl inside their home stadium, the Vikings made some moves in the 2018 offseason that signaled they were going all in for a championship run.
Instead of re-signing 2017 folk hero, Case Keenum, Minnesota opted to upgrade at quarterback and gave a fully-guaranteed, $84 million contract to free agent Kirk Cousins. In addition to Cousins, the Vikings were also able to land free agent defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson.
With these two new pieces added to their roster, Minnesota was viewed as one of the top Super Bowl contenders heading into the 2018 season. But that expectation proved to be way too high for this Vikings team.
Minnesota remained in playoff contention for most of the year and they sat with an 8-6-1 record heading into their final game of the season against the Chicago Bears. To get into the postseason, all the Vikings had to do was beat the Bears on their home field inside U.S. Bank Stadium.
Unfortunately, they failed to show up against Chicago and Minnesota ended up missing out on the playoffs in 2018.
So not only did the Vikings fail to meet their Super Bowl expectations during this season, but they weren’t even good enough to earn one of the six spots in the NFC playoff bracket.