Things that no one is considering

The Vikings could perform at exactly the same level as last season, and would almost assuredly lose more games. Why? Because the schedule this season is much more difficult.

Last season, the Vikings played the AFC North and NFC West. The AFC North, outside of the Browns, is tough but the NFC West was the worst division in the NFL last season. This season, the Vikings play the AFC East and NFC East. The AFC East, outside of Buffalo, looks to be tough. The NFC East, outside of no one, also looks to be tough. This season, the Vikings will be replacing teams like Cleveland, Seattle and St. Louis with teams like Miami, Philadelphia and Washington. It's a world of difference in the level of competition there.

The Vikings rolled through all of their weak opponents last season, except for an overtime loss at Chicago. This season, the weak opponents are division rival Detroit and Buffalo. That's it. When the Vikings played tougher opponents last season, the results were mixed. They swept Green Bay and beat Baltimore, but lost to Pittsburgh, Arizona and Carolina.

What this means is the Vikings need to actually play better than last season in order to finish with the same 12-4 record. Outside of Detroit and Buffalo, there are no gimmes on the schedule. Last season, they had Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis in the first five weeks. This season, the first five weeks feature New Orleans, Miami and the Jets.

Of course, the season never does go as expected. Maybe the Jets will have a bad season, or the Eagles will fall off. Regardless, I have a hard time believing that those teams, at their worst, are as bad as Cleveland and St. Louis were last season.

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Something else people seem to forget is that Favre got off to a slow start last season. He threw for about 120 yards in each of the first two games against Cleveland and Detroit, and the offense was not opened up until week 3. The Vikings could afford to do this because they were just that much better than Cleveland Detroit, but that is not the case this season. Favre missed all of training camp last year, and as a result the Vikings eased him into the season against weak opponents. That can't happen this season, as the Vikings open with New Orleans and Miami, and if Favre tries to ease into the season, they'll start 0-2. The Vikings' pass offense needs to come out guns blazing in order to beat New Orleans, and they can't just show up and beat Miami either.

Let me put it this way; I wouldn't be surprised if the storyline after week 2 is "Vikings' passing game struggles; maybe Favre shouldn't have skipped training camp." This schedule is no joke, and it starts in week one.

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Does this mean I'm pessimistic about the Vikings' prospects this season? No, I still think this is a talented roster that is quite capable of making a run at the Super Bowl. But I can see the potential pitfalls, and it all starts with the schedule. I mean, how do you like this five game run from October into November; Jets-Dallas-Green Bay-New England-Arizona. Find me a pushover in that group; you can't do it. The Vikings could play plenty good football and come out of that 2-3 or 3-2. The best bet are the final six games, featuring Washington, Buffalo, Chicago and Detroit. Washington and Chicago could be tough, but hoping for Buffalo and Detroit to suck isn't hoping for a miracle.

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Fun fact: including the playoffs, the Vikings were 9-0 at home and 4-5 on the road. It's true.