Ready Or Not, Minnesota Vikings Will Begin 2022 Season With Two Major Tests

The test for the Minnesota Vikings is coming right away. The new regime of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell will earn an early grade from the way the team performs in its first two games of the season against the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles.

If you haven’t been paying attention, the current way the Vikings prepare for competition bears no resemblance to the way the team went about its business under former head coach Mike Zimmer. O’Connell seems to be as new school as it gets, emphasizing rest and health in the preseason so the team goes into the regular season with a starting lineup that includes nothing but the penciled-in first teamers.

O’Connell wanted to avoid serious injuries – or at least limit their possibility. There is logic to O’Connell’s perspective, but there are no guarantees that come with running a Summer of Love training camp. The Vikings rarely played any of their starters in preseason games and they did not have hard-hitting practice sessions with live tackling to the ground. O’Connell is banking on the fact that his healthy starters still have their football instincts and they will come out roaring.

Let that sink in for a minute. Vikings followers who go back to the team’s glory years under Bud Grant may already be throwing their hands up in revolt. If the Vikings were not the toughest team in the league back in the 1960s and ’70s, they were in the top three, and they were almost certainly the most disciplined.

There was no other way to go about preparing for a successful season back then, and it stayed that way throughout the 20^th century. Since then, rule changes have played a key role in the way coaches prepare their teams, and everyone has been forced to ease back on the throttle. But the O’Connell approach seems to go to a new level of comfort and ease.

Players have always complained about the way they are pushed in training camp. However, that is no longer the case with the Vikings.

Star wide receiver Adam Thielen explained that the calm and reasonable approach in training camp has been somewhat jarring to the players.

“Sometimes it almost feels awkward,” Thielen said. “You’re like, ‘Is he not going to rip us? What’s going on here?’ And it has nothing to do with the old coaching staff we had here. That’s how it’s been my whole life, whether high school, college, first year in the NFL when I had a different coach. It’s different, but it’s exciting because it’s like now we can go in there and we can teach. We can learn.”

If they have not learned, the Vikings are in for a rude awakening because the regular season is here.

The Packers won’t have the same team they did last year, as top wide receiver Davante Adams was traded to Las Vegas Raiders. It was a somewhat curious move because Adams had developed a spectacular partnership with Aaron Rodgers, and he was largely considered the No. 1 wide receiver in the NFL. Adams hasn’t lost anything in the interim, but it will most likely take some time to develop major chemistry with Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, even though they were teammates in college at Fresno State.

However, the Packers have ruled the division and remain a formidable opponent. They relish an opportunity to start the season by beating the archrival Vikings on their homefield.

The Eagles are also a respected opponent and most of the preseason prognostications look at Philadelphia as a likely playoff participant. The schedule seems to ease up a bit after Week 2 with games against the Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears, but if they drop their first two games against tough opponents, those “easier” games could turn into significant traps.

The Vikings go into the season with healthy stars in Kirk Cousins, Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson and Thielen on offense. The defense also comes into the season with a clean bill of health, as key players Danielle Hunter, Za’Darius Smith, Eric Kendricks, Patrick Peterson and Harrison Smith are also healthy.

The “scientific” approach to preparing for an NFL season appears to be groundbreaking territory for the team. If it works, O’Connell will be lauded for his foresight and clear thinking. However, if the Vikings get beaten decisively by solid opponents in the first two weeks of the season, it will likely be a very long year.