No. 21 (down 3 spots): Frank Schwab – Yahoo! Sports
The Vikings have lost five games this season when they had a positive turnover margin, via Ben Goessling of the Star-Tribune. That seems impossible. They’re the 23rd team in the Super Bowl era to lose five games in a season while winning the turnover battle, Goessling said. No wonder Vikings fans are fed up.
No. 21 (down 2 spots): Pete Prisco – CBS Sports
At 7-8, they have little room for error the rest of the way. They have to beat the Packers to survive this week.
No. 21 (down 2 spots): NFL Staff – Bleacher Report
Week 16 may have marked the end of an era of sorts in the Twin Cities.
Despite a Week 16 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the Minnesota Vikings are still technically alive for a playoff spot. But Minnesota would need both wins in the team’s last two games and outside help. Odds are the Vikings will miss the postseason for the third time in four years.
And that may well mean the end of the line for Head Coach Mike Zimmer.
There has been no shortage of speculation about Zimmer future after eight seasons as Minnesota’s head coach — speculation Zimmer has done his best to downplay. But the cold reality is the loss to the Rams sums up everything that’s wrong with the Vikings — and many of the problems aren’t new.
Zimmer is supposed to be a defensive-minded coach, but Minnesota’s defense has ranked 27th or worse two years running. The Vikings flatly refuse to get hot or win close games — all eight losses this year are by one score, and Minnesota hasn’t won three straight in well over a calendar year.
The Vikings aren’t a bad team. But they aren’t a good one, either. And changes need to be made to snap Minnesota from their morass of mediocrity.