The last three NFC North titles have gone to none other than the neighbors to the Southeast of Minnesota, the Green Bay Packers. The last time the Vikings won the North was back in the same year as the Minneapolis Miracle and we all know that is what lead the team to the NFC Championship in 2017.
You may be asking yourself, what is it going to take to get rid of those pesky Packers? A couple circumstances need to go right for the Vikings to claim the Northern throne once again, now lets dissect what those are.
An Improved Defense
Let us just take a breath of fresh air for a second and remember that a shake-up is exactly what this team needed. New management, new coaches, new players and we could see a completely different team take the field than we are used to.
The downfall of a lot of Vikings games last season and even the past few seasons was the poor defense. Vikings ranked 24th in the NFL in defensive stats last season and that is just not going to cut it.
If you want to win your division, defense is important. When looking at the schedule for this upcoming season, the defense will need to step up in more ways than you would think. Teams to look out for that land on the schedule with highly-potent offenses include: The Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys. These teams obviously are non-divisional opponents and will warrant some must-win games.
A big takeaway from this offseason is that the Vikings have made defensive moves to better their overall structure of their team. The Vikings had plenty of games last season where scoring was not an issue. The issue was stopping the other team from scoring.
The addition of Za’Darius Smith from the Packers was a huge splash this offseason. The 29-year-old signed a three-year, $42 million contract to become the Vikes new outside linebacker. A back injury and surgery is what kept Smith to only one regular season game last season, but it seems as if he will be ready to don the purple and gold when September rolls around. Smith will join a linebacker group with another OLB that missed last year due to injury, Danielle Hunter.
The Rookie Safety
Lewis Cine, the first-round draft pick for the Vikings in 2022 could also be another asset to a secondary that was young and struggling last season. He will move to be a counterpart of Harrison Smith as the safety group has gotten stronger with the addition of Cine.
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlien’s overview of Cine for the draft was as follows: “Cine plays with a willing aggressiveness that fit right in with Georgia’s talented stop unit. He plays with an urgent, downhill approach, which leads to memorable collisions but he’s not always under control in getting there.”
Every rookie will have their highs and lows and the upside to Cine is his ability to play. There are holes in his game, but it will be the Vikings job to patch those holes.
Beat the Division
In the NFL you play your division a total of six games out of 17 total games. In the divisional games, it is important to win more than half of those six games. Last season the Vikings won four of six NFC North matchups, but that still was not enough to win the division.
The biggest problem was the Vikings lost a ton of one-possession games last year. The biggest one-possession loss was to the winless Lions in week 13. That win would have had the Vikings at 6-6 and it could have changed some momentum going into the late half of the season.
A fast start will be imminent for the Vikings in the 2022 season. They start the season week one at home versus division rival, the Green Bay Packers. In the past two seasons the Vikings and Packers have split the season series at one win a piece. A huge advantage would come from the Vikings winning both games this season and ultimately winning week one to start the year.
In Conclusion
Plenty can go wrong during a season. Injuries, underperforming players, etc. The Vikings have every right to come into this season and take the division. They will have to be prepared for bumps in the road, but a plethora of new coaches, players, and new GM should make for a more entertaining season coming out of Minneapolis.
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