On Sunday, we warned everyone not to get ahead of themselves. It was one game for the Vikings, one nice win — one dominant performance against bad quarterbacks, even if that scenario had produced career days for opponents in years past.

It wasn't the time to go make bold extrapolations about how the rest of the season was going to play out.

Well, apparently three days later the time has come to jump to conclusions because we can't stop looking at the Vikings' schedule and wondering, "what if?"

What if they can beat New England in their home opener on Sunday? It's not crazy. The Patriots looked ordinary in a Week 1 loss at Miami, and the Vikings' looked better than most of us expected.

If that happens, of course, Minnesota is suddenly 2-0 after going into the season with a stretch of games many considered daunting. Even if they could make it out of the first six 3-3 — very reasonable if they can win Sunday — it would set them up well for the rest of the season, when their schedule (at least as we think we know it based on 2013 and early results this year) softens.

If the Vikings can beat New England, suddenly a record of 9-7 feels very realistic. Of course, you'll recall that in Brad Childress' first season, the Vikings were 4-2 and generating all kinds of good will heading into a showdown with the Patriots, who ended up routing Minnesota 31-7 in the Dome with a smart quick-strike pass attack.

This is eight years later. Different team, different coach. But in a league in which every game is of massive importance (relatively speaking, of course), Sunday's game could be the benchmark by which we can measure true optimism this season.