2017 Minnesota Vikings Review

majesty95

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The Vikings went into this season with Super Bowl aspirations. They had what was expected to be one of the best defenses in the league and an up-and-coming offense centered around future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson. The 2017 regular season went about as well as expected as the Vikings finished 13-3 and locked up the #1 overall seed in the NFC. The team finished with both the #1 offense and #1 defense in the NFL based on yardage. The expectations of a Super Bowl were even higher with most fans and media members thinking a Minnesota appearance in the Super Bowl was a forgone conclusion.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, games are won and lost on the field and not in the minds and hearts of fans and media pundits. The Vikings started off well in their divisional playoff game against Tampa Bay picking off the Bucs' Jameis Winston three times in their first four drives. However, Teddy Bridgewater struggled and turned the ball over twice himself and the Vikings were only able to manage a 10-7 lead. Things continued to go poorly for Minnesota while the Bucs pulled themselves together. The Vikings turned the ball over two more times and their vaunted defense began to wear down in the 4th quarter. The Bucs outscored Minnesota 10-3 in the final frame and knocked off everyone's Super Bowl darlings 20-13 in front of the home crowd at US Bank Stadium.

The season was a lesson to the Vikings in a lot of ways. They learned that you cannot buy into your own hype and that every game in this league is a tough one. They learned that their defense can only get them so far and that poor offensive showings will come back to bite them at the worst possible time.

While the season ending in disappointment, there were some positives to be taken from the 2017 season. There are also some questions that need to be answered if Minnesota is ever going to make it back to a Super Bowl for the first time since 1976.

Positives to be taken from this season:

Teddy Bridgewater is capable of leading a top ranked offense. Many people have wondered what would happen to the Vikings offense when Adrian Peterson retires. Well, he's not retiring, but he will not be re-signed and now Bridgewater is clearly the face of the franchise. Teddy finished 3rd in the league in passing yards (4,603) and 2nd in passing touchdowns (33). If he can improve on his turnovers (25), he's certainly proven capable of being an elite passer in this league.

The defense was better than expected, and they're young. Anthony Barr followed up Harrison Smith's NFC Defensive Player of the Year campaign with one of his own. Barr is only 26 and Smith is still under 30 as are Linval Joseph, Xavier Rhodes, Eric Kendricks, Su'a Cravens and the vast majority of their starters and reserves. It may not be reasonable to expect the Vikings to lead the league in yardage for a second-straight season but they could improve on their turnovers created (33, tied for 10th) and sacks (39, tied for 15th). That could keep the Vikings in a lot of games this year and this defense, as a whole, will give them a chance to compete for deep playoff runs for the foreseeable future.

Questions to be answered in 2018:

Can Royce Freeman replace Adrian Peterson and how much will it affect the passing game? We know Bridgewater can throw it and we know the Vikings have a talented receiving corps in Stefon Diggs, Josh Reynolds, Laqoun Treadwell and Ryan Switzer. However, Freeman averaged only 3.6 yards per carry this year sharing backup duties with Jerrick McKinnon (5.5 YPC). McKinnon wanted too much money to re-sign so it appears to be Freeman's show. If he's not able to provide at least an average running game, Bridgewater may have a tough time finding open receivers down field.

Will the offensive line improve? The Vikings spent a lot of money over the past two seasons trying to build a quality offensive line for Peterson. While Peterson's stats said the plan worked (4.8 YPC and 13 TYDs in 2017), the line gave up an inordinate amount of tackles for loss and left Peterson fighting to just get back to the line of scrimmage in some games. Minnesota has cleaned house along the offensive line and will have three new starters in 2018. How well they improve (if at all) will go along way in determining the success of Freeman and the Vikings offense as a whole.
 
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