Power Rankings and Predictions/being dissed by the press.

[Orion]

Yahoo sports has the vikings ranked 27 LOL. historically though, I've found that site to be the worst among all these "experts."

[Raptorman]

NFL.com playoff predictions.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... sion-races

NFL.com week one Power Rankings, Vikings, 26th.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... ncos-reign

ESPN week 1 power rankings, Vikings 26th.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/powerrankings/_/year/2014/week/1

I would post prediction about playoff team but the Vikings don't show up on any so why waste the time. This is almost to much fun for me.

More fun. SI's prediction of Coach of the year. Anyone see anyone different than the runners up from last years? Thought the Coach of the year was supposed to be the guy that improved his team the most. Maybe I am wrong.

Chip Kelly 36%
Lovie Smith 19%
Mike McCarthy 19%
Gus Bradley 13%
Pete Carroll 13%

http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/09/02/nfl-se ... -bowl-xlix

[Purpnation]

The Viking get zero respect from national media. The lack of respect is so out of control, they don't even bother watching our games and draw official conclusions based on basically nothing. I understand that national media types can't watch all 32 teams' preseasons, but it does force you to take what say with a major grain of salt when the only games they actually watch involved Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, the Packers, and Cowboys....

Dude. I see the media do that with almost every team in the league, sure the Packers, Patriots, Steelers, Cowboys, and Niners get the lions share of media respect, but the Vikings receive as much respect as any one of the other Superbowless rebuilding teams. (Bills, Browns, Jags, Titans, Cardinals Etc. Etc.)

Comments like this make our fan base look like it gas a major inferiority complex, just, stop.

[Purpnation]

Based on his play in previous years is that really all that unreasonable?

Bingo, Cassel sucks. I'd love for him to prove otherwise, but until then, he is what he is, a below average NFL QB. I don't understand the excitement behind this guy, I guess he's not P onder at least.

Teddy FTW. Let the future commence.

[Mothman]

More fun. SI's prediction of Coach of the year. Anyone see anyone different than the runners up from last years? Thought the Coach of the year was supposed to be the guy that improved his team the most.

They usually give it to a coach whose team has shown the most improvement in a single year but technically, I think the award is really just supposed to honor the coach who did the best job of coaching in the regular season so it could go to anybody, even if their team won the same number of games as the previous year. I suspect it usually goes to coaches whose teams show vast improvement because a big jump in the win column is the easiest, most obvious way to make the determination.

[mansquatch]

I really think the the vast majority of people in media are morons. Not just the proverbial fanboy-ism either. I made the mistake of listening to KFAN this afternoon on the way to a meeting and it was just moronic. They were making the case that the Vikings offense is the same personnel as last year. One of the guys on the show points out that Ponder is not the QB this year, not even in the conversation, and then they just continue their premise as if no holes had been punched in it. Apparnetly a different guy at the most importrant position on the field = the same offense.

They also were trying to make the case the that the 30 point games were in blow outs. Then they listed the games nad that wasn't the case. But they stuck with the premise.

Honestly, I'm in the wrong racket. I could handle being paid what they get paid if that is all the more work I would have ot put into my analysis.

In terms of the offense, I think it is fair to expect 24+ points a game. That is not the real question on this squad, the question is if the defense can get off the field in the 4th quarter and not have it be due to an opponent's score. That was the main reason our record was 5-10-1 and not 10-6.

I think watching how the defense comes together will be the most interesting story for the first few games. It could also be the most depressing...

[Texas Vike]

The bottom 8 teams:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nfl-s ... ght-teams/

Glad to see that we're not listed! The list seems pretty well argued IMO.

[Raptorman]

The bottom 8 teams:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nfl-s ... ght-teams/

Glad to see that we're not listed! The list seems pretty well argued IMO.

Interesting site. I listened to the NFC north podcast, well just the Vikings part. They actually are talking about the defense being a top 10 defense.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-g ... h-preview/

[Mothman]

ESPN's Ben Goessling predicts every game of the upcoming Vikings season:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_ ... ta-vikings

He has the Vikes finishing 7-9.

[Mothman]

There's a brief video "preview' on SI's site for each team, all with comments from Don Banks. There's really not much need to watch but for anyone curious; Banks says Zimmer gives Vikes fans reason to hope but also says they still don't have enough pass defense and that will hold them back. He predicts an 8-8 finish. If I'm not mistaken, he's one of the few members of the national media to even have them finishing that well. Maybe his roots as a Vikes reporter are showing.

http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/09/02/2014-n ... am-by-team

[Mothman]

Mike & Mike picked the NFC North on their show this morning and both had the Vikings at the bottom of the division with just 5 wins. As you might expect, their main focus was the QB situation.

Greenberg picked the Lions to win the division with 11 wins!

[Texas Vike]

Grantland continued on the article I posted upthread, picking the next 8 likely teams to get worse this year:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nfl-s ... ing-stars/

Glad to see the Vikes are not include. This guy's takes seem solid to me.

[Raptorman]

Holy Barn Door Batman! Someone picked the Vikings to be a Wild card team! You have to go all the way to the bottom.

NFC

Seeds: 1. Packers; 2. Seahawks; 3. Saints; 4. Eagles; 5. 49ers; 6. Vikings.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... edictions/

[Funkytown]

Holy Barn Door Batman! Someone picked the Vikings to be a Wild card team! You have to go all the way to the bottom.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... edictions/

That was great, until I read over some of his other picks...

Oh well, who cares? I'll take it!

[S197]

Microsoft's Cortana, the Windows phone virtual assistant that correctly predicted 15 of 16 World Cup knockout stage games, is back for the NFL season.

The predictions come from a model by Bing Predicts that takes into account 2013 results, offensive and defensive stats, margin of victory, location, weather, and public sentiment (which is meant to help identify real-time factors, like injuries).

Minnesota Vikings at St. Louis Rams — Rams win (67.4% chance)

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft ... 28755.html