The Minnesota Vikings season might have ended in heartbreaking fashion to the Seattle Seahawks, but that’s certainly not hurting the confidence of their star player, Adrian Peterson.
Adrian Peterson said Vikings will be number one seed in NFC next year without a doubt
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) January 10, 2016
At first glance, this seems like a fairly unrealistic boast. Peterson is the Vikings best, most important player and will be 31 in 2016. Tradtionally, running backs at that age are at least beginning to regress, if they’re even still in the league.
So, who knows how good he will be? If Peterson is even a little worse, it’s a tall order for Minnesota.
Looking at this a little deeper, though, this doesn’t seem too outlandish.
The Vikings offense may rely a lot on Peterson, but they are not a one-trick pony. Minnesota had the fifth-best scoring defense in the NFL this season, with the Seattle Seahawks being the only NFC team above them. So, they should at least be in most games.
The Vikings also get a huge break from one very important source, the schedule. The NFC North will get to play all four teams from the AFC South and NFC East, two divisions that were won with 9-7 records in 2015. Would anyone care to take a guess as to what NFC division got that schedule in 2015?
If you guessed the NFC South, give yourself a pat on the back. The NFC South, of course, includes the Carolina Panthers who are, indeed, this season’s No. 1 seed. To make matters even a little better for Minnesota, they’ll face the AFC South’s two best teams — the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts — at home.
Honestly, the Minnesota Vikings need a lot of help if they’re going to be the NFC’s best team. They need to establish a more consistent passing game and hope that some teams — namely the Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals, and Seattle Seahawks — regress.
All of that might keep the Vikings from winning an NFC Championship. But the race for the conference’s No. 1 seed may well come down to the NFC North, which should again be between the Vikings and Green Bay Packers, who are also highly flawed.
The Vikings may not be the NFC’s best team in 2016, but Adrian Peterson isn’t just boasting here. The stars are aligned for Minnesota to claim their first No. 1 seed since going 15-1 in 1998.