Daily Norseman FanPulse: A comparison

The results from the latest round of FanPulse polls are in, and this week we’re going to do a bit of a comparison between how the Minnesota Vikings and their opponents this week, the Chicago Bears, have been viewed in the eyes of their SB Nation readers.

There are some similarities between the two teams. Both had pretty high confidence early on, and both teams bottomed out after ugly losses to the same division rival. Both fan bases seem to be slowly regaining faith in their teams, though.

We’ll start with the Vikings, who have a chart that looks like this:

As was the case last year, I don’t think any team throughout the SB Nation family of NFL sites has a FanPulse profile that’s more roller coaster-esque than the Vikings do. After the loss to the Packers, just 45% of Vikings fans said that they had confidence in the direction of the team. After stomping the Raiders last Sunday, however, that number is back up to 65%, which is just third-highest in the NFC North behind Green Bay (77%) and Detroit (75%).

That leaves the Bears trailing behind the Vikings, as they’re still recovering from the massive plunge they took after Week 1.

Throughout the offseason, the percentage of Bears fans that had confidence in the direction of their team was consistently in the high 90s, and even got to the mythical 100% mark in the wake of the 2019 NFL Draft. After the loss to Green Bay to open the season, however, they dropped all the way down to 56%. With two wins in the last two week, Bears fans are remaining cautious, though. . .they went from 56% to 57% and then to 59% this week.

Whichever of these teams loses this weekend. . .well, expect another massive drop, I think. Hopefully we won’t have to worry about it being the Vikings.

There was also a national question this week, this one asking readers which team that’s gotten off to an 0-3 start will turn it around and make the playoffs. There weren’t a whole lot of attractive options, but one team pretty well ran away with things.

Of the six 0-3 teams, more fans have faith in the Ben Roethlisberger-less, Le’Veon Bell-less, Antonio Brown-less, Mason Rudolph-led Pittsburgh Steelers than any of the others. I think what’s most surprising is that anyone voted for the Dolphins at all. Then again, as the kids today like to say, they may have been doing it for the lulz.

And that’s a look at this week’s FanPulse, folks! If you want to be a part of our FanPulse polls, simply click here and make sure to put the Vikings as your favorite team so you get the proper questions.