Vikings at Panthers

[CharVike]

Not exactly a barn burner and has the look of tank bowl 23. We are road favorites which I didn't expect. Panthers are back with their franchise QB so that's a positive for them. Although Dalton played solid last week in a loss. Sounds like Cpt. Kirk. He might be our gap filler next year. Mattison has been put on notice by KOC. If he fumbles Akers will tote the rock. Ball security will be job 1 for Matti. I thought he ran well off tackle last week. We probably go back to the inside run game this week. I see it 23 - 21 Panthers and we haven't heard much from Peg so I think he'll block a short game winner FG attempt to seal the defeat. Looks like Murphy won't play so Mekhi Blackmon might get some snaps. Or perhaps another safety will step in and keep an eye on Young. Theilen should catch a couple short passes against this cover off D for old time sake. Might even score a TD. Cpt Kirk will feed JJ early for both their stat builds then he'll go to Hock and the adventure will begin. Anything can happen at that point.

[Crax]

Glad Young is playing. Feel like we have a better chance of getting torn up by Dalton. Feel like he'd recognize our defensive schemes better than a young rookie. Plus, we love to lose to backup QB's, so rather play against the starter.

[makila]

Bryce Young. Stroud has had a few solid games already for Houston.

[VikingLord]

A lot of prognosticators are predicting the Vikings win along with the line favoring the Vikings, which either speaks to how poorly they view the Panthers, or how many excuses they feel the Vikings have to justify their close losses this season. Regardless, I think this is going to end up being another close game.

The key for the Vikings this year is going to be to get ahead and stay there. The defense has now been trucked in run defense (Eagles) and pass defense (Chargers), and while both of those are better overall offensive teams than the Panthers, it seems clear that if the Vikings defense is in a straight up street fight and has to play honestly against both the pass and run, they are going to struggle to get off the field. I don't see that changing in this game even if the Panther offense is a little less potent.

So if everything boils down to the Vikings offense, then that boils down to limiting the critical mistakes and getting points on the board when they have the chance to get points on the board. I really thought the futility in that department was bad luck and would end against what looked like a pretty vulnerable Chargers defense last week, but it did not, and that suggests to me that the problem goes beyond simple bad luck. But I always have hope it is just bad luck and those mistakes that have been killing them in those situations will stop. If they keep coughing it up and/or fail to score points, they'll lose this upcoming game as surely as they lost the first three.

The Vikings always seem to struggle on the road against teams like the Panthers. I don't know why that is, but I don't see this game as a walk in the park even if the offense and defense play well. I'll go with a qualified prediction this week.

Prediction #1 (assumes the Vikings stop making key mistakes on the offensive side of the ball)
Vikings - 28
Panthers - 24

Prediction #2 (assumes the Vikings continue making key mistakes on the offensive side of the ball)
Vikings - 21
Panthers - 28

The 21 points will be a little deceptive in the 2nd prediction because I think the Vikings get a late TD on a desperation drive only to watch the Panthers recover the onside kick and kneel it down to run out the clock and win the game. In #2, once again the stats look good, but the mistakes again kill the team and the defense just isn't good enough to keep the Panthers at bay.

[Crax]

Bryce Young. Stroud has had a few solid games already for Houston.

Yep, thinking the wrong rookie there, haha.

[fiestavike]

Records aside, anybody else think 2023 vikings are better football eam than 2022 vikings?

By week 17, this team would beat last year's team, if only because of the defensive passivity. I know this squad has may weaknesses and has played error filled football, but I think they are better than 0-3 and last year's tea was nowhere near as good as its record.

[CharVike]

Records aside, anybody else think 2023 vikings are better football eam than 2022 vikings?

By week 17, this team would beat last year's team, if only because of the defensive passivity. I know this squad has may weaknesses and has played error filled football, but I think they are better than 0-3 and last year's tea was nowhere near as good as its record.

Last year's team made plays to win in all 3 phases including the horrible D. Think we had some ST plays. Our O is a turnover machine which makes any game a long stretch to win. Cook busted some big plays which helped. Not much big play ability now. Hock blows since the monster contract. Skipping camp means forget this year. Defense Z played half a season his replacement is worthless. A few snaps. OL still blows and not much on the ground.

[allday1991]

This comes down to turnovers, big surprise! I really miss the days of Peterson fumbles, odd thing to say right? But what I missed was how pissed off he would get! You’d almost feel his energy building to were a few plays later he’d rip a big play in shear angry of fumbling the drive before. Out of all our fumbles and t/o this year only JJ after his eagles dive has one, taken full responsibility for the play and two come out with fire afterwards to make it up. It doesn’t seem like KJ of TJ want to take any responsibility for KJs stripped td against the bucs and TJs bounced pass against the chargers. Even if you don’t believe it was your fault be a good team mate and take some responsibility, imo our qb does it all the time. Overall even at 0-3 I hope this team comes out with fire, stops the T/O and stomp this team 31-10 like would should playing a perfect game.

[ERIK the PURPLE]

I put everything I have on the Vikes Moneyline this week. They better come through for me or else I’ll be living in my car between working shifts at the taco stand.

[ERIK the PURPLE]

Vikes 34-17

[Iron Lion]

Glad Young is playing. Feel like we have a better chance of getting torn up by Dalton. Feel like he'd recognize our defensive schemes better than a young rookie. Plus, we love to lose to backup QB's, so rather play against the starter.

100% agree. I'm hoping y'all don't hurt the rookie cuz we got dibs on sloppy seconds.

[JJBreaksRecords]

We should win this one. But the Vikings are playing sloppy and dont protect the ball at all. The D cant stop the run, and I dont trust our CBs (esp. Murphy). I wont be surprised at all.

[Texas Vike]

What new way to inexplicably lose a game we should win will we resort to this week?

We've done the fumbling through the endzone thing. We've done the "oh nice! INTERCEPTIO---nope it went through his hands, off his helmet and the opposing WR caught it for a TD" routine.... Can't wait to see what's next.

[Cliff]

What new way to inexplicably lose a game we should win will we resort to this week?

We've done the fumbling through the endzone thing. We've done the "oh nice! INTERCEPTIO---nope it went through his hands, off his helmet and the opposing WR caught it for a TD" routine.... Can't wait to see what's next.

Don't have much room left on the bingo card. FG attempt returned for a TD?

[Cliff]

Records aside, anybody else think 2023 vikings are better football eam than 2022 vikings?

By week 17, this team would beat last year's team, if only because of the defensive passivity. I know this squad has may weaknesses and has played error filled football, but I think they are better than 0-3 and last year's tea was nowhere near as good as its record.

I think last year's team is better than they get credit for but not as good as their record indicated. This year's defense is no better and on top of it aren't coming through in the clutch.

They're giving up a 76% completion percentage last year's was 66%. We're the worst rushing defense in the league again. They're more exciting to watch because they're so aggressive but the aggressiveness hasn't translated to improvement. Last year they played off and were more fresh in the 2nd half which I think allowed comebacks and much better play. This year's defense seems more tired later in the game to me.

The offense is worse for sure just due to turnovers alone. Throw the other stats out the window. I'm not interested in being the Stafford/Megatron era Lions. Their turnovers have caused missed points from the Vikings side and has kept the defense on the field longer.

The 2022 team was better and so far, I'd still rather have last seasons defense. They didn't do better statistically (though really no worse) while coming through in key moments.