Vikings 2018 Predictions: USA Today predicts 12-4 record for Minnesota

Every season, Nate Davis of USA Today goes through the NFL schedule, game-by-game, and predicts the records for all 32 NFL teams, all the way out to the Super Bowl. His predictions for 2018 are out, and he sees the Minnesota Vikings having another very good season. . .but, unfortunately, not ending the way that we would like it to.

Davis has the Vikings finishing the season with a record of 12-4, just off of their record from 2017, and once again grabbing the #2 seed in the NFC playoffs. However, that’s where the goodness ends for the purple, as he has the Vikings losing in the Divisional Playoffs to his eventual Super Bowl champions, the Atlanta Falcons.

It isn’t revealed in the story which four games the Vikings lose, but given that they lose out on the #1 seed in the NFC to a Los Angeles Rams team that has the same 12-4 records, it’s probably safe to assume that he has the Vikings’ Thursday night trip to the West Coast marked down as a loss.

The 12-4 record that Davis projects for the Vikings has them tied for the NFL’s best mark with the Rams and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Now, before we get super excited about Davis’ predictions. . .which are pretty nice, admittedly. . .there are a lot of factors that come into play before any of these things shake out. Last season, Davis had the Vikings tabbed as a 9-7 football team, and that was before the injuries to Sam Bradford and Dalvin Cook came into the equation. So, while it’s nice to see people predicting big things for the Vikings, and we should expect big things from them, we don’t really know everything until teams take the field in September.