Vikings Not Included Among SI's 12 Teams Who Could Win Super Bowl LVI

Should Conor Orr have included the Vikings? After last year, it's tough to say he should've.

Every year, Conor Orr of SI's The MMQB puts together a list of the 12 teams who could win the Super Bowl in the upcoming season. This year's dozen was posted on Thursday, and unsurprisingly, the Vikings were not included in the group.

Here are his 12 teams:

• Chiefs
• Buccaneers
• Browns
• Bills
• Packers
• Rams
• 49ers
• Cowboys
• Colts
• Ravens
• Seahawks
• Chargers

For what it's worth — and Orr acknowledges this in the article — the most recent Super Bowl champions weren't in last summer's version of this story. He overlooked the Bucs, and now he's put in the disclaimer that he knows he's risking a repeat by leaving the Patriots off of this year's list.

The Vikings not being on this list shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. When you go 7-9 and play as poorly as Minnesota did for stretches during the 2020 season, you can't expect anyone to treat you as a contender the following year, regardless of what you do in the offseason.

However, articles like this one from Orr a month ago — where he predicted six teams with losing records in 2020 to make the playoffs this year and left off the Vikings in favor of teams like the Broncos and Giants — seem to highlight the disparity between the national view of the Vikings and the rising swell of optimism happening in Minnesota.

While trying to remain unbiased, I do think the Vikings deserve more recognition and hype heading into this fall. Their defense should be vastly improved, as only a couple starters from last year are part of the plans this season. That unit is going to look almost entirely different and is loaded with veteran talent. Meanwhile, the Vikings had a top-ten offense last year despite getting awful play from their interior offensive line and bring back all of their key weapons on that side of the ball. We could even see some improvement up front if rookies Christian Darrisaw and Wyatt Davis prove capable right away.

On paper, there's a chance the Vikings could have a top-ten unit on both offense and defense this season. That's obviously an optimistic projection, but this is objectively a talented roster on paper, and it's coached by a strong staff led by Mike Zimmer. Throw in some odd year magic and the Aaron Rodgers uncertainty in Green Bay, and you can see why Vikings fans have high expectations for their team in 2021.

Does that mean they deserve to be on this list of 12 teams who could win the Super Bowl? Not necessarily, although I think you could make a compelling argument that they're in a better position than teams like the 49ers, Cowboys, Colts, and Chargers. At the very least, I think the Vikings should be getting more buzz as a team with a great chance to make the playoffs and potentially make a run if they get there.

But guess what? The Vikings don't mind being overlooked. In fact, that's what Zimmer prefers. This team has had most of its success in recent years when people haven't expected much from them, and that might just continue this season.

Thanks for reading. Make sure to bookmark this site and check back daily for the latest Vikings news and analysis all offseason long. Also, follow me on Twitter and feel free to ask me any questions on there.