Minnesota Vikings: Bold Predictions for the Vikings Defense in 2017

The Minnesota Vikings look to have a dominating defense. Here are some bold predictions for a bold-looking defense.

Defense wins championships; we all know that age old mantra. Many believe the Minnesota Vikings only hope of winning a Super Bowl this season rests solely on the defensive side of the ball. Maybe very little faith is derived from Sam Bradford. Perhaps the young receivers scare the purple crowd. Or, perhaps, the offensive coordinator and his willingness to change things up when yardage is being gained scares even the most purple-blooded fans around.

Whatever the case or belief may be, the writers of Sporting Sota are now boldly going to prognosticate wild outcomes for the defensive side of the ball. Remember, not all bold predictions are positive as some of these may even be of the negative variety.

Justin Ekstrom -The Vikings’ defense leads the NFL in sacks.

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This may not be that bold of a prediction. The Vikings did finish fifth in the NFL with 41 sacks last season. Averaging just under half of a sack more per game, the Vikings would have taken the sack lead. The bold part of the prediction comes with the Vikings playing against offenses that when averaged out gave up a total of just over two sacks per game in 2016. Look for the Vikings to amass nearly 50 sacks en route to the NFL sack crown.

Jake Andersen – Trae Waynes leads the Vikings in interceptions.

The Vikings wrapped up a long-term deal with star corner Xavier Rhodes, but his likely counterpart is going to lead the team in interceptions. This may not be as bold as it seems, considering Waynes was second on the team with three interceptions to Rhodes’ five last season. Openly, I am a big fan of Waynes and like how his game improved in year two. He also has a big opportunity to break out this season as he’s expected to start opposite of Rhodes. With this in mind, expect opposing quarterbacks to try to take advantage of Waynes given they’ll want to stay away from Rhodes. In that scenario, I see plenty of opportunities for Waynes to make plays on the ball. Somewhere between four and six interceptions seems realistic for the former first round pick.

Travis Young -Six players will be named first team defense for the NFC.

Since Mike Zimmer became the Vikings head coach, the defense has been for the most part, very good. Last season, their pass defense and overall ranking was top ten. However, the run defense and third down efficiency needed to be better. Look for those areas to improve in the 2017 season. As for bold predictions, let’s go with Linval Joseph, Everson Griffen, Danielle Hunter, Eric Kendricks, Xavier Rhodes and Harrison Smith being voted to the first team defense in the NFC. With six starters out of 11 just from the Vikings, that would truly be remarkable.

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Nolan Schmidt – The Vikings will give up more than 25 points per game.

Our newest member of the Sporting Sota writing team decided to go negative and straight to the point. Nothing wrong with that one bit. This prediction coming true would be tough for the purple to overcome. Fans truly hope the new guy is wrong in this case.

Collin Kottke – Anthony Barr will be labeled as the best player on the defense.

It is no secret that Anthony Barr did not have a good season in 2016, but the times they a a-changing. The coaching staff and Barr have promised that Barr will be much better in 2017. I have no reason to doubt that and we know Barr can be a game changing type player. Expect big things from the linebacker this season.

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We’ll start to see if this predictions run true on Monday. That’s when the Vikings kick their season off in a Monday Night Football contest against the New Orleans Saints from U.S. Bank Stadium.

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