The Vikings are out to avoid 2020 déjà vu

At 5-6, Minnesota is right back where they were a year ago

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By Sam Ekstrom

EAGAN — A season ago the Vikings found themselves in the same boat.

Sure, the trip might’ve looked a little different. The 2020 Vikings encountered rough waters early in the year before some smooth sailing against a soft middle of the schedule, while the 2021 team has had to navigate against a strong current from the time they set sail.

Yet both wound up at 5-6, narrowly on the outside of a Wild Card spot, hoping for a December to remember that would propel them into the playoffs.

In 2020, the Vikings were preparing for a 1-10 Jacksonville team in hopes of getting back to .500. This year, the Week 13 punching bag opponent is the 0-10-1 Detroit Lions.

Minnesota limped to an overtime victory against those Jaguars and staggered in their next three games to fall to 6-9 and playoff elimination. Now a similar talent core and coaching staff is trying to reverse the 2020 outcome and prove the Vikings can be more than simply mainstays on the ‘In The Hunt’ graphic.

“Football don’t start ‘til November, December,” said Bashaud Breeland, whose former team in Kansas City went a perfect 9-0 in December in his two-year stay. “That’s how I look at it. The first couple weeks of games in the season, you’re trying to find everybody, put in new pieces, coaches are trying to find their roster, finding their guys they’re going to go to war with. And when it comes to playoffs, that’s when you put everything together. Everything’s going to be solidified. Guys got out the kinks early in the season, played plenty of games. Now it’s time to hone in and win some games.”

Peaking at the right time helps when you have Patrick Mahomes as your quarterback, like Kansas City. When you don’t, other factors will need to drive your success: quarterback play, complementary football, strength of schedule and, most importantly, health.

The Vikings were not healthy last year at this time, and they face a comparable — if not worse — situation this time around.