You’re far more optimistic than I. Let’s take a quick look at the Vikings schedule this year. (And nyah nyah, this can’t be a hijack; the subject line is just football, not fantasy football.)
Sun Sep. 9 12:00 PM Carolina
Vikings win. Home opener. Optimism runs high. 1-0.
Mon Sep. 17 8:00 PM at Baltimore
Tough loss to defending Super Bowl champions. Fans say, "At least it was a good effort. 1-1.
Sun Sep. 23 12:00 PM at Chicago
C’mon. 2-1. LNO sings ‘Break Down, Chicago Bears’ and insists that the Vikings really honestly will win it all this year.
Sun Sep. 30 12:00 PM Tampa Bay
Brad Johnson teaches Dennis Green that he was a better choice than Randall Cunningham in the post-98 offseason. 2-2.
Sun Oct. 7 12:00 PM at New Orleans
Saints beat Rams. Rams beat Vikes. Thus Saints beat Vikes. 2-3.
Sun Oct. 14 12:00 PM Detroit
Home game, mediocre division rival, 3-3. Green predicts playoffs.
Sun Oct. 21 3:15 PM Green Bay
Home game, powerful division rival, 3-4. Green predicts playoffs, calls naysayers bad names on radio.
Sun Oct. 28 12:00 PM at Tampa Bay
C’mon. That’s been a house of horrors for Minnesota for years. 3-5.
Sun Nov. 11 3:15 PM at Philadelphia
Eagles are doing well, Vikings in a two-game slump, close loss. 3-6.
Mon Nov. 19 8:00 PM New York Giants
The grudge match. Green boasts that they won’t be beaten 41-0 in their own house. Moss talks trash about how he’s really motivated this time. Vikings lose 40-0 instead. 3-7.
Sun Nov. 25 7:35 PM Chicago
C’mon. 4-7.
Sun Dec. 2 12:00 PM at Pittsburgh
Vikings deserve a road win somewhere in here. 5-7.
Sun Dec. 9 12:00 PM Tennessee
Spirits are low. Carter plays Russian Roulette after every game. 5-8.
Sun Dec. 16 12:00 PM at Detroit
Lions smell blood. 5-9.
Sun Dec. 23 3:15 PM Jacksonville
Lucky game in the last game in the Metrodome. 6-9.
Sun Dec. 30 12:00 PM at Green Bay
And much like last year, the Vikings get spanked by the Packers at the end of the season. 6-10.
Tampa claims divisional title, Carter retires in disgust, Moss throws another temper tantrum and is traded away, thus making the Vikings known as the team who traded FOR Herschel Walker and traded AWAY Randy Moss. Slim hope for the future – Buccaneers leave NFC Central in 2002 and Brett Farve’s arm has to fall off someday.
(And looking at the Bears, they’re going to beat Arizona, San Fran, Cleveland, and Detroit at home, and Cincinnati and, say, Washington on the road. 6-10, and within a sneeze of placing higher than Minnesota.)
So, hell, I’ll be happy if they even MAKE the playoffs. The traditional January choke will be a welcome relief to me.