Ranking the Vikings' 17 Games in 2023 From Easiest to Most Difficult
The Vikings' 2023 schedule is out in all its glory.
We've already picked all 17 games. Now, in a similar but different exercise, let's rank them all from easiest to hardest, grouped into four different tiers.
Tier 1: Games the Vikings should win
17. Week 1 vs. Buccaneers
16. Week 4 at Panthers
15. Week 12 vs. Bears (MNF)
14. Week 17 vs. Packers (SNF)
Is it possible that the Vikings' first game is their easiest? There isn't much to separate the games in this tier, but a home opener against a team quarterbacked by either Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask feels very winnable. So does an early-season road game against the Panthers and rookie QB Bryce Young. And although I know games aren't just about the quarterbacks, the Vikings have to take care of business at home against Justin Fields and Jordan Love if they want to beat out the Lions in the NFC North.
Tier 2: Vikings should have a slight edge
13. Week 6 at Bears
12. Week 8 at Packers
11. Week 14 at Raiders
10. Week 9 at Falcons
9. Week 10 vs. Saints
This tier is mostly filled with road games against teams that will likely struggle to break .500. It's never easy to go on the road and win in the NFL, but the Vikings should enter each of those games as the more talented team. The Bears and Packers are semi-unknowns because of their quarterbacks situations, while the Raiders (Jimmy Garoppolo) and Falcons (Desmond Ridder) combine bad QBs with shaky defenses. There's also a home game in here against Derek Carr and the Saints, which almost made it into the next tier.
Tier 3: True toss-ups
8. Week 3 vs. Chargers
7. Week 11 at Broncos (SNF)
6. Week 16 vs. Lions
5. Week 7 vs. 49ers (MNF)
Justin Herbert and the Chargers coming to town in Week 3 is going to be fun. That's a team that's brimming with high-end talent, but you wonder a little bit about their coaching and depth. The Broncos have a good defense and an offense that should be much better under Sean Payton, but that's still a doable road game unless Russell Wilson totally reverts to peak form. For the first time in a long time, the Lions are good enough that their trip to Minneapolis falls in the toss-up tier. Lastly, the 49ers game very nearly made it into the final tier, but home field advantage and questions about Brock Purdy's staying power kept it in this one.
Tier 4: Vikings likely to be underdogs
4. Week 18 at Lions
3. Week 15 at Bengals
2. Week 5 vs. Chiefs
1. Week 2 at Eagles (TNF)
For now, these are the four toughest games on the slate. It's always possible there won't be anything major at stake in the regular season finale in Detroit, which would push that game out of this tier. But if it ends up being the NFC North on the line, it'll take a big-time performance from the Vikings to go into Ford Field and win the division against a hungry Lions squad.
Then you've got games against arguably the three best teams in the league, with respect to the Bills and 49ers and Cowboys. Going to Cincinnati to face a Bengals team that may be in the race for the top AFC seed will be awfully tough. Patrick Mahomes and the defending-champion Chiefs are so great that even beating them at home would be considered a decent-sized upset. But the most difficult game on the schedule is a Week 2 primetime game in Philadelphia on a short week. I don't care that the Eagles replaced both of their coordinators this offseason and lost a few players. They're so talented — and that's such a tough place to play — that a win in that game would be a massive early statement to the league.
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