9 October 2023
When the Vikings step onto the natural grass at Solider Field in Chicago this Sunday, they will do so with the same record as the much-maligned team that calls the Windy City home.
As of right now, the Vikings are no better than the lowly Chicago Bears, at least as far as the NFC North standings are concerned.
Never mind that the Vikings might have a better roster from top to bottom. They haven’t done much this season to prove they should be taken seriously this season. They stumbled out of the starting blocks with losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Chargers before narrowly escaping with a win over the Carolina Panthers, the only winless team in the NFL.
As a follow-up, the Vikings hung tough in a 27-20 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs this past Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium. That performance might have carried a little more weight had the first month not already put the Vikings in chase mode. There’s simply no time for moral victories at this point.
On that note, if the 1-4 Vikings want to have any chance of salvaging this season, they better beat the 1-4 Bears this weekend. Not only is that a very winnable game, it becomes even more imperative for the Vikings considering the caliber of opponent coming to the Twin Cities next week. Let’s just say the San Francisco 49ers are going to be a pretty tough out on Monday Night Football.
There’s a world in which the Vikings split the next couple of games, then convince themselves that they can be competitive for the stretch run when the schedule finally starts to soften up.
It raises the question: What if the Vikings actually lose to the Bears? It’s certainly not a sure win given the circumstances.
Though the Vikings opened up as favorites on the road, the line doesn’t seem to be taking into account that they might not have star receiver Justin Jefferson. He’s working through a hamstring injury suffered against the Chiefs, and if Jefferson is ruled out at any point, the line will move. Add in the fact that the Bears have seen a recent resurgence of sorts from quarterback Justin Fields, and the game itself might be closer than it seems on the surface.
Now, if the Vikings do, in fact, lose to the Bears, they have to start to thinking about blowing up the rest of the season. The odds of making the playoffs would be, at best, minuscule, even if the Vikings believe they have the pieces in place to turn things around.
The worst thing the Vikings could do this season, if the playoffs are in doubt, is scratch and claw their way back to relevance. There’s no point in doing that. In the current landscape of the NFL, it’s best to be either really good or really bad, regardless of what a competitive rebuild might suggest.
The door has already been cracked for the Vikings to be among the worst teams in the NFL this season thanks to an abysmal first month. The door will swing all the way open with another loss this weekend.
Will general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah choose to walk through it?
There might be a struggling team out there that could use veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins under center. There might be a playoff contender that feels like pass rusher Danielle Hunter could take them over the top.
Nothing should be off limits as the Vikings search for their quarterback of the future.
Naturally, if the Vikings beat the Bears this weekend, the conversation will be delayed once again. That is, until the Vikings get smoked by the 49ers in primetime.
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