SB Nation Reacts: Vikings fans expecting good things before the bye

There’s a new coaching staff and a bunch of new faces to be found for the Minnesota Vikings this NFL season, and it might take a little bit of time for everything to come together. Despite that, fans of the purple are expecting things to go pretty well in the early portion of the 2022 season according to our SB Nation Reacts poll.

We asked our readers what they thought the Vikings’ record would be before their bye week, which comes in Week 7 this season. The results were overwhelmingly positive, as a full 93% of our respondents believe that the team will be at least .500, with 72% of them saying that they think the purple will be no worse than 4-2 after their first six games.

The Vikings’ schedule is constructed a bit strangely, as they’ll wind up playing all of their home games against their NFC North rivals by Week 5. They open with the Green Bay Packers, as we know, and they follow that up by hosting the Detroit Lions in Week 3 and welcoming the Chicago Bears to town after they return from London in Week 5. They also have road trips to Philadelphia and Miami mixed in, as well as that trip across the pond to take on the New Orleans Saints.

I’ve gone on record as saying that I think this team can be pretty darn good this season. I think 4-2 or 5-1 at the bye is completely achievable. We’ll just have to see if Kevin O’Connell and company can bring everyone together quickly enough to make it happen.