Vikings Territory: Contrary To Popular Belief, Vikings Fans Unaffected By DEN Game

Press release from Vikings Territory:

Dustin Baker Dustin Baker

2021-08-17

That’s the amount of Minnesota Vikings fans largely unconcerned about the team’s awful preseason performance versus the Denver Broncos last weekend.

August 15, 2021

The event marked the first time since late December of 2019 that the Vikings hosted a home game. The pandemic season reduced virtually all attendance by fans down to nubbins.

@NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/BzthsVWgo8

But that’s what happens when 30 players are intentionally rested.

On social media, fans panicked. The usual storylines resurfaced: Zimmer didn’t have time team prepared, the defense still sucks, Mond is a bust, Cousins is at fault somehow, etc. Indeed, the anxious fans played the hits.

Of course, it would have been super if the Vikings second and third-stringers kicked the Broncos first-teamers in the teeth. But that was never going to happen because, well, that just isn’t how sports work. Elite athletes supersede the lower-tier ones. Period.

If you heard or saw folks bashing the Vikings based on a preseason game sans 30 players, understand that they don’t fully grasp how the sport works. It’s fine to be mad that players struggled – but don’t use the contest as an indicator of regular-season performance. That’s silly.

Curiously, the Green Bay Packers also tossed 30 players on the bench for their first preseason game. What happened? Well, they got gutted 26-7 by the Houston Texans, a team ranked as the worst in the NFL by most reputable power rankings. The Packers “excuse” of resting players perfectly explains away their ineptitude in losing to the Texans. For the Vikings, however, the entire season is called into question.

This press release was produced by Vikings Territory .The views expressed here are the author’s own.