Cold Prediction: Vikings will win 4 games.

I hate to play “remember when” – but do you remember when the Vikings had a decent chance of winning just about every game they played? Sure, it was almost ten years ago that the 1998 Minnesota Vikings went 15-1 on their way to blowing the NFC Championship game against the Falcons, but still – it kind of feels like yesterday.

Over the last ten years, the purple never really hit rock bottom. Last year they won only 6 games, but that was the lowest win total they had during the last ten years and it never really felt like bottoming-out. Yes, the offense was terrible, Coach Chill didn’t seem to be able to coach or speak English, and Brad Johnson aged 10 years in the span of two months. But to me at least, it never felt like the Vikings were horrendous. Well, this is the year for all of us to feel that the Vikings are horrendous.

Take a close look at this schedule:

Sep 9 - vs. Atlanta, 1:00 PM
Sep 16 - at Detroit, 4:05 PM
Sep 23 - at Kansas City, 1:00 PM
Sep 30 - vs. Green Bay, 1:00 PM
Oct 10 - Open
Oct 14 - at Chicago, 1:00 PM
Oct 21 - at Dallas, 1:00 PM
Oct 28 - vs. Philadelphia, 1:00 PM
Nov 4 - vs. San Diego, 1:00 PM
Nov 11 - at Green Bay, 1:00 PM
Nov 18 - vs. Oakland, 1:00 PM
Nov 25 - at NY Giants, 1:00 PM
Dec 2 - vs. Detroit, 1:00 PM
Dec 9 - at San Francisco, 4:05 PM
Dec 17 - vs. Chicago, 8:30 PM
Dec 23 - vs. Washington, 1:00 PM
Dec 30 - at Denver, 4:15 PM

I see four winnable games; this week against the Falcons, at home against Green Bay, at home against Oakland on November 18, and maybe at home against Detroit on December 2. That’s it. Four wins. Cheering for the Vikings won’t be easy this season, but at least we know what we have. I am actually looking forward to being happy if they play well and not really caring if they lose.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. I will still care if they lose and I will throw things at the TV and probably swear at them way too often and eventually burn my Mewelde Moore jersey if they don’t win at least 4 games. But – we are rebuilding this year and 4 wins is going to have to be good enough for all of us. If they go on a run and rattle of 2-3 wins in a row sometime this month, I have the right to take back everything I just wrote.