Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd recently said that he believes the Minnesota Vikings will double their win total in 2022, meaning they will finish with a 16-1 record.
Even after a disappointing season, it’s not hard for Minnesota Vikings fans to get optimistic about their favorite team. Especially this year after the significant changes that the Vikings made to their coaching staff and front office.
However, there is a gigantic difference between feeling optimistic and having expectations that are completely delusional.
Whether it’s what he meant to say or not, Fox Sports radio host Colin Cowherd said on Friday that he believes Minnesota will double their win total next season. That’s right, with the Vikings finishing 8-9 in 2021, Cowherd thinks they will end the 2022 campaign with 16 wins.
Chances are very low that the Minnesota Vikings will win 16 games in 2022
Back in 1998, Minnesota ended their season with a 15-1 record. It’s their best record in franchise history and it’s the only time they’ve ever won 15 or more games in a single season.
So why does Cowherd think the Vikings can achieve a win total that they never have before in 2022? Well here’s how attempted to explain his thought process.
"“The coach Mike Zimmer and Kirk Cousins had a really bad relationship. Now they bring in a [Sean McVay] guy, who is supposed to be, they say, a taller version of McVay. So Kirk Cousins is probably going to have an elevated season.”"
Okay, so just because Minnesota’s new head coach Kevin O’Connell spent the last two seasons with the Los Angeles Rams under Sean McVay means the Vikings are going to win eight more games in 2022?
An eight-win increase is a tremendously high for any NFL team to make from season to season. If Cowherd wanted to say that Minnesota will win two or three more games in 2022 and win the NFC North, then no one would likely have much of a problem with that prediction.
But to say that the Vikings are going to go from 8-9 to 16-1 next season with a rookie head coach and basically the same roster as 2021 is tip-toeing the line of insanity.
Minnesota fans have every right to be optimistic about their team heading into next season. But even the most optimistic Vikings fans were probably a little flabbergasted after hearing Cowherd’s prediction on Friday.