Vikings Territory: Stop The Preseason Vikings Panic. It's Absurd.

Press release from Vikings Territory:

2021-08-15

The Minnesota Vikings played dreadfully versus the Denver Broncos during both teams’ first preseason contest of 2021. A team’s performance without 30 of its players is not the measuring stick to use in predicting future wins and losses.

It’s bizarre that this must be declared — missing 30 players from a football team is a big damn deal. Imagine the 2020-2021 Milwaukee Bucks without its starting five [and then some]. Zero championships could have been achieved.

What’s more, the Zimmer brand of the Vikings lays one egg — almost like clockwork — per season. In 2017, it was terrible timing with the NFC Championship debacle. The following season, 2018, rookie Josh Allen hurdled linebacker Anthony Barr en route to an embarrassing defeat for the heavily-favored Vikings. Then in 2019, it was the game that caused Stefon Diggs to flip out. And during the pandemic season, there were two — at the Indianapolis Colts and versus the Atlanta Falcons at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Infamously, the 2008 Detroit Lions boasted an undefeated 4-0 preseason record in the season before Matthew Stafford arrived. Things were peachy for one month in Detroit. After that, the Lions lost all 16 games in the regular season, etching a spot in history as one of the worst NFL teams ever.

On the bright side, Kellen Mond was afforded more time than most fans expected. He did not display gangbuster-like stuff in his first organized outing, but Mond was welcomed to the franchise as a developmental contingency plan for Kirk Cousins’ future. Players with developmental attached to their reputations take time to mature. It’s why they’re called developmental. What did Mond do on Saturday? He developed, making a few nifty plays with his feet while wrangling with accuracy. This is how it goes, folks. If all rookies were akin to Patrick Mahomes. defensive coordinators would drive taxis.

And the team needs its defense, too, anchored by Danielle Hunter, Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr, and Harrison Smith. No one of those men played on Saturday.

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