Last season, despite having to use four different starting quarterbacks and not having Justin Jefferson on the field for seven matchups, the Minnesota Vikings managed to win seven games.
Finishing with a 7-10 record typically isn't an accomplishment for an NFL franchise, but few head coaches around the league probably would have been able to lead the Vikings to seven wins in 2023 like Kevin O'Connell did.
For whatever reason, there has been this national narrative outside the state of Minnesota during the last few months that the Vikings are going to be one of the worst teams in the NFL this season.
Yes, Kirk Cousins is no longer Minnesota's starting quarterback this year. But didn't we mention O'Connell found a way to lead the Vikings to seven wins with four different starting signal-callers last year?
The perception of Cousins' level of talent is typically higher than it actually is. Some act like Minnesota has a huge hole at the quarterback position now that he's gone, when the truth really is that the team is likely still going to get above-average play from whoever starts under center this season as long as O'Connell is still the head coach.
In 2023, the Vikings ranked fifth in passing yards per game, and this was still accomplished with Josh Dobbs only averaging 184 passing yards in his four starts for Minnesota. Even if people aren't too thrilled with Sam Darnold as the Vikings' starting quarterback this season, most will agree that he has a higher upside than Dobbs when it comes to actually throwing the football.
Over on TheGameDay.com Ammirante recently shared his offensive and defensive rankings for each team in the NFL. For Minnesota, he has the defense ranked 31st because "they lost top edge rusher Danielle Hunter," and he has the team's offense ranked 23rd in the league due mostly to Darnold now being the starting quarterback.
So, basically, due to Cousins and Hunter leaving this offseason, the Vikings are just going to be incredibly terrible this year, according to Ammirante.
We can't predict the future, but if anyone has been paying attention to Minnesota during the last few months, beyond just the headlines, it's incredibly difficult to believe that Ammirante's vision of the Vikings being one of the worst teams in NFL is going to come true.
