Vikings projected to finish with embarrassing number of wins in 2021

With just one win in their first four games, FiveThirtyEight currently has the Minnesota Vikings projected to only win five more matchups this season.

Despite a 1-3 start, several members of the Minnesota Vikings, including head coach Mike Zimmer, have continued to emphasize that they aren’t a bad team. They still believe they have what it takes to turn things around and turn the 2021 campaign into a success.

While it’s great that the Vikings are remaining optimistic about their chances this year, they’re still 1-3. This isn’t college where teams sometimes get rewarded for performances in losses. This is the NFL where teams that currently have a 1-3 record like the New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons, and Houston Texans aren’t viewed much differently than Minnesota.

With that being said, the Vikings still have 13 contests left on their 2021 schedule and a lot can happen during the next few months that could result in them actually earning a spot in the postseason.

FiveThirtyEight has Minnesota Vikings favored to win just five more games in 2021

While Minnesota‘s fan base would love to see their favorite team get back on track and string some wins together during the next few weeks, the chances of this actually happening don’t seem very high.

Looking at the 13 games left on their schedule, the Vikings only have a higher win probability than their opponent in five of their remaining matchups this season according to FiveThirtyEight’s current 2021 predictions.

The five contests in which Minnesota has a higher chance than their opponent to leave the field with a victory this year includes this weekend’s matchup with the Detroit Lions, Week 13 against the Lions, a Week 14 Thursday night battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers, a Monday night matchup against the Chicago Bears in Week 15, and the season finale inside U.S. Bank Stadium versus the Bears.

These projections can obviously change for the better if the Vikings put together a few wins over the next handful of weeks. But based on their lack of success so far, the projections from FiveThirtyEight indicate that the rest of the season probably isn’t going feature an impressive turnaround by Minnesota.