It’s awfully tough to give a full course preview when you’re talking about an upcoming game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I’ve watched any Jacksonville Jaguars football this season.
Their record is 1-10. They beat the Colts the first game of the season and haven’t won since. They currently find themselves one game behind the Jets in the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes.
Mike Glennon, who started last week at quarterback for the Jags, but hadn’t started a game since 2017 with Chicago before that, actually played pretty good last week against Cleveland (235 yards 2 td 0 int.) He’s not the type of guy that strikes fear in the hearts of opposing defenses, but that’s just the kind of player I always worry about as a Minnesota fan.
I’d rather play against Rodgers or Wilson. Honestly. At least with those guys when your defense gets torched you expect it.
Regardless, this game is really more about the Vikings.
They’ve scratched and clawed their way to a 5-6 record after starting 1-5. That’s not easy. Now that they’ve got .500 and a possible run to the playoffs in their sights, what are they gonna do?
Take care of business? Understand the importance of the game in regard to what it means for the rest of their season and get a little extra time in the film room this week?
Nah.
This looks like the ultimate let down to me. The Vikings are gonna look at the matchup, see the Jaguars record, and finally know for sure they are showing up to play a weaker opponent this week.
Time to relax.
Time to coast.
Time to take a week off.
That’s my Vikings team. The one I’ve chosen to root for since I was just a little boy. The one that loads me up and rides me into certain death every year, yet I keep buying the ticket to climb aboard.
Unfortunately, being a Vikings fan for 30 years, I’ve seen this movie before. Many times.
I don’t trust the Vikings this week at all. I made a bold prediction four weeks ago that the Bucs-Vikings game in week 14 was gonna be 7-5 Tampa Bay against 6-6 Minnesota, when it didn’t look realistic at all. Now all that has to happen for that exact matchup to happen is a Vikings win over Jacksonville Sunday.
This is where it all falls apart.
Quarterbacks who aren’t supposed to be good almost always play great against Minnesota. I can give countless examples over the years. Brian Hoyer for the Browns, no problem. Matt Moore for the Chiefs, easy win. Brandon Allen made it look so simple as his awful Broncos jumped out to a quick 20-0 lead last year. Kyle Orton had no problem shredding Minnesota in the past wearing a Bears, Bills, or Cowboys uniform.
And the list goes on and on the further back you go.
Back in the day Minnesota used to save Trent Dilfer’s job every year when he played for the Bucs. He’d always have that one great game of the season against the Vikings, where all his potential and upside would finally come together and be realized, causing the Bucs to pause and give a ‘eh maybe one more year to prove himself???…okay’ from team management.
And those games were against good Minnesota defenses. Without the Vikings in the division the Bucs would have cut him at least two years before they did.
I’m not exaggerating.
This feels like Mike Glennon’s turn. He can sense his run as an NFL player is probably coming to an end if he can’t prove himself the rest of this season. So he’s got nothing to lose.
You saw him say F**k it last week and run-and-gun all over the field against Cleveland. A journeyman quarterback on house money playing for a team with a bad record, trying to squeeze out one final NFL contract before he hangs it up.
Terrifying.
In my weekly picks against the spread I’ll be taking Jacksonville +10 to cover my ass, but I think Jacksonville beats Minnesota this week.
James Robinson has been great. He will have no problem running downhill against the Vikings.
And that will only help Mike Glennon’s cause as he rides around on that Bull, rodeo-style, unbuckable, laughing at the Minnesota defense all day long.
I hate my life.
