Will the Minnesota Vikings be a contender or a pretender during the 2022 NFL season?
The Minnesota Vikings missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, which led to the dismissal of head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman. In addition to that, Minnesota has added many new faces to the roster. The question is – what should this team’s expectations be this season?
This team should be better given the new additions on the field, but they also have a rookie head coach in Kevin O’Connell. We do not know whether he will pan out in his new role. If he does not, this team could very well take a step back even with the additional talent added to the roster. It is possible that O’Connell could end up being a good head coach, but maybe not in year one.
There are reasons to be excited about the hire of O’Connell. He comes from the Sean McVay coaching tree, where his assistants have been very good head coaches so far, and is a young offensive mind.
Will the Minnesota Vikings be improved in 2022?
The Green Bay Packers should be considered the favorites to win the division once again. They have won the NFC North in each of the past three seasons. They lost star wide receiver Davante Adams, but they still have a very talented roster led by a guy named Aaron Rodgers. Minnesota could still put up a very good fight and possibly overtake them by winning their first division title since 2017. Once again though, Green Bay currently has the best shot.
At the moment, this team should be expected to make the playoffs as a wild card team. Maybe they will be worse than that, but maybe better too. This league is always so unpredictable, especially because of all the injuries that happen. If this team stays mostly healthy and gets great contributions from the rookies, they could really surprise many. O’Connell’s performance as a first-year head coach will play a very critical role. All of course are big what-ifs though.
Minnesota does not look like a Super Bowl contender at the moment, but again it is a very unpredictable league. The 2017 team was not expected to make it to the NFC Championship, especially after Sam Bradford and Dalvin Cook went down with season-ending injuries.
Last season they had the talent to make the playoffs, but the coaching did not help. Injuries certainly did not either, but injuries also happen a lot in this game. Eight of the team’s nine losses were by eight points or less. The Wilfs did not feel a rebuild was necessary and are banking on this new coaching staff to help them improve from last season.
It will be very interesting to see what will happen. New general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has been very busy this offseason. We will see how his signings and draft picks fare.
One thing is for certain. Vikings fans are excited about the new era of the franchise.