Vikings Have NFL's Toughest Slate of Opposing Quarterbacks in 2020

According to The Athletic, no team will face a tougher gauntlet of QBs than the Vikings.

So far in training camp, there have been plenty of encouraging signs from the Vikings' young cornerback group of Holton Hill, Mike Hughes, Jeff Gladney, and Cameron Dantzler. Mike Zimmer and the rest of the Vikings' defensive coaching staff better hope that those players continue to develop quickly, because they're going to be thrown into the fire this year.

The Athletic's Mike Sando recently ranked all 32 teams' strength of schedule based on the opposing quarterbacks they're set to face, and the Vikings are atop the list. Sando used his Quarterback Tiers survey, which received input from 50 NFL coaches and evaluators, to assemble these rankings.

Of the Vikings' 16 games in 2020, five are against Tier 1 quarterbacks: Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers (twice), Drew Brees, and Deshaun Watson. That's tied for the most games against Tier 1 quarterbacks in the league, with the Vikings getting all of the Tier 1 quarterbacks not named Patrick Mahomes. Six more games come against Tier 2 QBs: Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford (twice), Matt Ryan, Dak Prescott, and Philip Rivers.

11 games against Tier 1 and 2 quarterbacks is the most in the NFL. The Bears – who also have four games against Rodgers and Stafford – have nine such games, but they avoid Wilson and Prescott.

The Vikings have two games against Tier 3 quarterbacks (Ryan Tannehill and Teddy Bridgewater), and three against Tier 4 (Mitchell Trubisky/Nick Foles twice and Gardner Minshew).

Compare that gauntlet to last year, when the Vikings faced off against Trubisky, Chase Daniel, Daniel Jones, Case Keenum, Matt Moore, Brandon Allen, and David Blough in seven of their games. That was one of the four points I included when looking at potential areas of regression for the Vikings in 2020.

With Kirk Cousins being a Tier 3 QB, that means that – in theory – the Vikings are at a quarterback disadvantage in 11 of their 16 games this year. However, you certainly make an argument that Cousins should be in Tier 2 with guys like Prescott, Ryan, Brady, Rivers, and Stafford. 

Regardless, the point stands: the Vikings are going to face an incredibly tough slate of opposing passers. That puts a lot of pressure onto a re-tooled defense that will have three new starters at cornerback and two new starters on the defensive line. Zimmer's group is going to be tested early and often, and how they fare against those Tier 1 and Tier 2 quarterbacks will have a major say in the outcome of the Vikings' season.

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