Neal’s 3-2 Pitch: On Vikings tanking, P.J.’s recruiting class and Gophers basketball

Here’s the 3-2 Pitch: Three observations and two predictions regarding the local sports scene.

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While the 4-8 Vikings’ season has become a unmitigated disaster, they remain in the heat of a battle:

A battle with the Titans, Giants, Browns, Raiders, Saints and other basement-dwellers around the NFL.

A battle to see who ends up with the higher draft pick next April. That would call for more losing.

This is where that four-letter word — tank — enters the conversation.

That is a word I don’t throw around casually. And it’s a word that will never be uttered in a clubhouse or locker room. When you are in those settings as much as scribes are, you gain an understanding of how difficult it is for players to consistently perform at a high level, the sacrifices required and the gamut of emotions that are experienced.

Players and coaches don’t tank. Front offices? Maaaaybe. So pay attention to those transactions down the stretch.

Tanking, however, is a juicy subject for fans to devour. So let’s do this!

There’s a website, tankathon.com, that can guide you through the remaining weeks of the regular season. There are 11 teams with a record as poor or worse than the Vikings. Their remaining opponents have a .529 winning percentage — the Commanders, the Giants, the Cowboys, then the revenge-minded Lions.

The season ends with the Packers, who might have something to play for at home.

Only six teams have tougher remaining schedules than the Vikings. The 1-11 Titans face teams with a combined .573 winning percentage and will be tough to catch. But the Vikings could slip into a top-five spot in next year’s draft. It would be a good year for them to do so.

What General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah does with those picks — his drafting success is at the bottom of the NFC North — is another story. Maybe 10 picks will be enough for him to hit on a couple.

Yes, the Vikings need to see their young quarterbacks develop over the final five games. Viewers will tune in to see how much better, or worse, the season gets from here on.

If it manages to get worse, there’s a higher draft slot waiting for the Vikings when the smoke clears.

At the time, Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck was right.

“The first top-25 class we have signed at the University of Minnesota,” he announced Wednesday at his signing day presentation.

Still, it could become Fleck’s best recruiting class. And it’s ranked seventh in the Very Big Ten, nothing to sneeze at.

But why has it taken Fleck nine seasons to land a recruiting class on the fringe of the top 25?

Coaches don’t stay that long without some big seasons. Many coaches don’t last nine seasons when they win double-digit games just once, which Fleck did in 2019. And Fleck hasn’t had a nine-win season since 2022.

Fleck has definitely raised the floor at Minnesota. It’s the ceiling that worries me. At this pace, it will be another nine years before the Gophers reach the College Football Playoff.

Chansey Willis Jr. is now forced to become an extra coach, as his season is over because of a foot injury. He was good at his new job on Wednesday, as his Gophers men’s basketball teammates fought through adversity to topple No. 22 Indiana 73-64 in new coach Niko Medved’s Big Ten debut.

Reynolds already was a priority sub for Medved’s Gophers. But he is 12-for-20 from the field in two games since moving into the starting lineup for Willis, including a 17-point effort on 7-of-11 shooting Wednesday.

The Gophers will need his offense going forward while cutting down on his 2.67 turnovers a game. Ball security will be paramount next Wednesday, when they visit the No. 1 team in the nation, Purdue.

• Despite the Twins saying they aren’t trading Pablo López, Joe Ryan or Byron Buxton, I’m not buying it. Ryan will be dealt before spring training.