Early projection: Vikings picked to finish last in the NFC North
This isn't the kind of hype the Minnesota Vikings are hoping for, less than a year after moving into U.S. Bank Stadium and in a season when Minneapolis will host Super Bowl 52.
But if you believe the analytic geeks who use mathematics to predict football results, the Vikings are likely to finish 2017 at 6-10 and in last place in the NFC North. So much for all that Super Bowl talk.
After starting last season 5-0 before stumbling through a 3-8 finish and missing the playoffs, the Vikings' struggles will continue in 2017, the experts at Football Outsiders projected.
The group made tirhe projection for ESPN Insiders (you'll need a login to read it). The bottom line is that the Vikings just didn't do well in Football Outsiders' Defense-adjusted Value Over Average analytic.
"Minnesota's projection is a bit of a surprise, until you realize just how poor the Vikings were in the second half of last season: 24th in offensive DVOA and 19th in defensive DVOA from Week 10 onward," writes author Aaron Schatz.
While it is really early – the NFL Draft is still more than two weeks away – it does come after a free agency period that saw the Vikings try to improve their biggest problem area, their offensive line.
Minnesota shelled out big money to sign free agent tackles Riley Reiff and Mike Remmers.
The Star Tribune notes the projection is just a numbers calculation and there are a lot of potential outcomes for the 2017 season – 6-10 is just the most likely outcome for the Vikings at this point.
