All great points. Of course, Denny was the coach of the Cardinals when he made this amazing quote, but you're right that it was emblematic of the Vikings.
You're right! Damn, I'm getting old.
I see a 2-3 start for MN there before the BYE. They could go 3-2 over the next 5 to get to 5-5. That’s optimistic but realistic. I just don’t see a scenario where MN doesn’t lose at minimum 7 contests, which means they will not win the division. Vikes could be a team “in the hunt “ late in the season. Their issue will be finishing against GB and at Detroit. I think they get eliminated by us before the Detroit contest and that’s being optimistic. Kirk Cousins is better (singularly impactful) than anyone on the MN roster until proven otherwise and he’s gone.
I'm not a believer in Goff. I think he is only capable of so much. He is surrounded by talent, though, and he gets the job done.
As far as the QB situation goes I lean in Love's favor over Goff. Given Love's relative inexperience so far I would hesitate to rank him much above Goff at this time but I do think they are at least equals. What tips the scales in Love's favor to me though is I think there is a lot of room for Love to get much better and really soon, as in 2024. With Goff what you have is pretty much all you are ever going to get.
They are both excellent. Gary has the potential to be there if he has a good year. Also we are now going into Van Ness’ Sophomore season, I’d expect him to make the most likely jump here.
We know Jacobs had 1 down year. Yet he’s a 2 time Probowler and 1 time All Pro. Pretty hard to argue a RB who has never cracked 1000 yards (not saying he won’t) just automatically gets the nod. Id give Jacobs the edge because of his track record imo. Any RB can have a tough year, but Jacobs has had a fantastic career already. He was #3 on the Raiders all time and he’s nowhere near done.
I agree. I think we have more young talent (particularly on O) poised to rise up. The math doesn’t lie. I’m near positive that Musgrave will double last years production. That kid oozes talent he runs like 6’3 225lb WR but at 6’6” 250lb. He’s a total mismatch for 75% of the D secondary.
At this point I think Gary has reached his potential. I would say he is a solid starter with streaks of being above average. I don't treat PFF as the football bible, but it's a good source of information. He didn't crack their top 20 for linebackers in 2023. They rank him as 80 for a grade. He had a total of 17 solo tackles, which puts him at 72nd in that category. He had 10 sacks and that puts him at 22nd. Hutchinson graded out at a 91 overall. He had 30 solo tackles and 11 sacks. He's younger and I believe he also gets more attention from the oline in terms of blockers. I don't think Gary will ever be that. I'm not saying Gary is horrible. Just in terms of comparison it is not there. Now, I do think Van Ness can get close to that level. He played less snaps than Gary but still had 23 solo tackles and 5 sacks.
I'm in agreement. The Lions might have a better 1-2 punch, but Jacobs is better. Lloyd is a wildcard at the present time. We might be able to pass them up this season has having the best duo on the North.
Love him!
No fraud team beats N.O. the way we did. We lost the Super Bowl bc of Rex Grossman’s woman sized hands and he couldn’t grip the ball when it started to rain. We were winning till it rained. Took away our speed advantage.
That's a fair assessment. For what they're worth, consensus pre-season power rankings have the Packers between #6 and #9. On paper they are certainly a talented, and still very young team. They may not win as many games as we'd like (I think 9-11 is reasonable) but they will be fun to watch.
Yes and fun to watch against what looks like better competition than our 2023 schedule. From what I’m seeing we are floating in that top #5-10th hardest schedule. It sounds intimidating but I really don’t mind that, because if we make postseason this year it’s against a very legitimate crop of good teams.
Agree about winning the division. Those same power rankings put the Lions in the top 5, one as high as #3. I'm not as convinced. Certainly the Lions are an excellent team. The two games with the Packers will likely decide who wins the division.
Do you remember Indy running the ball down the Bears throats in that game? Rex sucked even when the field was dry. The only thing the rain did was slow down Indy's passing attack. Under dry conditions, the game is even more of a blowout.
Yes Overdue. Statistically you should make a SB every 16 years and Win one every 32.
I remember the game being close for a while, like the first half. Then Indy woke up and it really wasn't close. Where was it played? Miami?
Yes.
Hmmm. I think this is a good example of where statistics are meaningless. And this isn't really based on statistics, it's based on probability. Either way, it means nothing when it comes to the chances of any given team getting to or winning a SB.
The Bears were up due to a kickoff return early. Their offense was not on the field a whole lot.
see I disagree there. I think the # of teams in the league is crucial. It’s also an entirely reasonable barometer of success. There’s 32 teams and 2 Conferences. I think Caleb is actually leaning correct on this one. He said they are “due” for a Super Bowl. I’d say they are long overdue just based on the number of teams in our Conference. Same applies for our Division. I wouldn’t call winning our Division every 15 years successful at all. There’s only 4 teams since they went to a 32 team expansion.
Except for that Viking surge of SBs back in the earlier era teams in our division have not been getting there to say the least. Detroit never. And that includes Tampa when it was with us. The Bears twice. Lions never. Vikings 4. Packers 5. Bears 1 win. Packers 4. Steelers, Niners, Cowboys, Patriots are teams that stand out.
