Vikings guaranteed to play this year's Super Bowl teams next season
If the 2023 Minnesota Vikings don't have a better defense next season they could be in for a bumpy ride, because their schedule won't do them any favors. So it goes for a team that wins the NFC North and scrapes out 13 victories, 11 of them decided by one score.
The scariest thought about the 2023 schedule so far is that Minnesota is guaranteed to play both teams that reach the Super Bowl this season. What's worse is that they're guaranteed to face all four teams in the conference championship round.
Minnesota will host the 49ers and Chiefs and play the Eagles and Bengals on the road. Again, if the Vikings don't have big improvements on defense and those four teams are anywhere near as good as they are right now, we could be looking at four losses before the season even starts.
Here's a reminder of the home games the Vikings have next season:
- San Francisco 49ers (13-4) - NFC West champs
- Kansas City Chiefs (14-3) - AFC West champs
- Los Angeles Chargers (10-7)
- New Orleans Saints (7-10)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-9) - NFC South champs
- Green Bay Packers (8-9)
- Chicago Bears (3-14)
- Detroit Lions (9-8)
And the Vikings will play these eight teams on the road:
- Philadelphia Eagles (14-3) - NFC East champs
- Cincinnati Bengals (12-4) - AFC North champs
- Atlanta Falcons (7-10)
- Carolina Panthers (7-10)
- Denver Broncos (5-12)
- Las Vegas Raiders (6-11)
- Green Bay Packers (8-9)
- Chicago Bears (3-14)
- Detroit Lions (9-8)
That's a terrifying list of opponents that includes six teams that made the playoffs this season and division foes in Chicago and Detroit that are sure to be better.
The Bears are $92 million under the cap (per Over The Cap) and can improve their roster greatly, while the Lions have a good shot at being the favorite to win the NFC North based on the way they finished this season, which included a convincing win over Minnesota.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.