The Vikings Did the Right Thing the Wrong Way This Year…
Two years ago, Mike Zimmer left on his own terms. In Week 18, the Minnesota Vikings defeated the Chicago Bears 31-17, winning a pointless match that hurt their chances of being selected in the 2022 NFL Draft. With 124 yards remaining in the game, Justin Jefferson needed to break Randy Moss’ single-season receiving record. He was 17 yards short in the end. Following that game, Zimmer declared, “I don’t care about records.” “Winnings are important to me.”
In the offseason, the Vikings traded for Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to replace Zimmer and Rick Spielman. They went 11-0 in one-score games and finished 13-4. But instead of selecting Jordan Davis or Kyle Hamilton, Adofo-Mensah traded the No. 12 pick in 2022, and Minnesota’s 2022 class hasn’t performed well.
After going 6-8 in one-score games, the Vikings finished 10-7 the following year. In one-score games during Zimmer’s last season, they also finished 6-8. They did, however, lose in Week 18 of this year, and that will help them. In Detroit, Minnesota should have lost objectively. If the Bears had defeated the Green Bay Packers, they would have been able to play a last-place schedule and gained a better draft position.
In Detroit, the Vikings made no attempt to lose. They knew they had a 3% chance of making the playoffs, so they played their starters, including Jefferson. However, Minnesota’s chances had almost completely vanished by 2:40 pm. The New Orleans Saints led the Atlanta Falcons by twenty points, while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Carolina Panthers 9 to 0. To make the playoffs, the Vikings had to lose to either Tampa Bay or New Orleans.
