Vikings Must Bring “Must Win” Energy To Week 1
. Mandatory Credit: Caean Couto-USA TODAY Sports
Well here we go, huh?
I hate cliches — and my journalism professors would be happy to hear me say that — more than most literary tropes that we see in sports media.
But “must win” might fit for the Minnesota Vikings’ season-opening game against the New York Giants in the Meadowlands to begin the 2024 season.
The Giants are probably going to be bad. Last year they went 6-11 and were never quite in playoff contention. Most believe this year will be similar. It’s definitely a winnable game.
Previews for the Vikings this season are uncertain if anything. Justin Jefferson hasn’t played — practice-squad players Lucky Jackson and N’Keal Harry were the top receivers in the preseason finale. Minnesota’s rocking with Sam Darnold at quarterback after JJ McCarthy went down for the season. Name your ailment, Minnesota’s had it.
There’s always harsh reactions, good or bad, to the first game of the season. It’s hard to blame people, as they’ve been hungry for actual football for months and finally have something real to go off of. But often, it’s just one game in a long season that doesn’t necessarily impact things all that much.
For the Vikings, it might be more important than that. It might be as important of an opener as the Vikings have had in a long time.
Here’s Minnesota’s early schedule following the first game:
vs. 49ers
vs. Texans
@ Packers
vs. Jets
Bye
vs. Lions
@ Rams
Of those six games, that’s five playoff teams, including two of the best teams in the NFC a year ago. The lone game against a non-playoff squad is at home vs. the Jets, who have a guy in Aaron Rodgers that has killed Minnesota more times than anybody in a purple shirt would like to remember. If he’s healthy at that point it’s a loseable game.
Do any of those, at this point, look like sure-fire bets for Minnesota to win? I don’t think so.
Things, like injuries, happen — who knows that as well as Minnesota right now? — and nothing is quite certain in the NFL. It’s not a given that playoff teams will be great the next year. Most of these squads have solid prognoses though, especially since none have significantly downgraded their roster in any way.
Let’s forget the Packers, Jets, Lions and Rams for a second. That’s hard to do, I know.
Could the Vikings be 0-3 with losses to the Giants — the opponent in question — 49ers and Texans? Absolutely.
Since 1990, just four of 162 teams to start the season 0-3 have made the playoffs. A mere two of them have won their divisions. The 2023 Vikings, who probably had better hopes in last year’s preseason with a then-healthy Kirk Cousins and arguably a better roster, had that exact start before finally getting over the hump against Carolina. The fact that they went on a winning streak not too late after and got to 6-4 was more of an aberration than something we can expect again. That was proven with the late-season woes and the Lions celebrating a division title in Minneapolis.
So next after that is at Green Bay. That can go either way, even with the absolute best Vikings teams we’ve seen.
So, 0-4 is nowhere near impossible. There has been a total of one team — the 1992 Chargers — to start with four consecutive losses and still make the playoffs. I, a 31-year old, was born a few days after their regular-season finale that year, for some context.
I’m not saying a victory against the Giants would change the coming challenge. It’s not like 1-2 or 1-3 are particularly promising.(And 1-6 is even worse, though possible.) But after the initial tough stretch there are a handful of much more winnable games. Minnesota needs to get a win out of the gate and then battle their way to try to come out of the first seven somewhat decent.
The NFL is a momentum league. A tough loss heading into a tough matchup can turn into a losing streak quickly. An opening victory can give confidence for a team that has a lot of new parts and will surely need it. An opening victory won’t be the ticket to a playoff run but a loss could easily be the start of a catastrophic early season streak.
Again, I hate “must-win” as a term for anything other than an elimination game, where it’s a given. But, maybe it fits this time around.
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