Friday will mark six full months since the NBA shut down, starting a chain reaction of sports leagues around the United States hitting pause in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. I have not been in the Star Tribune office since the end of that week. To say things have changed quite a bit in half a year is the understatement of the century.
Ah, but here we are at the dawn of an NFL season — and the uncomfortable comfort, if you're a Vikings fan, of asking a very familiar question: Can the Vikings, with talent on both sides of the ball, do one fundamental thing that likely will make or break their season?
Can they protect quarterback Kirk Cousins, particularly when the down and distance reflect that they are almost certainly going to attempt a forward pass?
We talked about this on the most recent Access Vikings podcast, much like we probably in 2019, 2018, 2017, etc. Reader Eric got to the point a lot faster than I ever will when he asked us this question:
How do you think the offensive line will hold up with two shaky guards?
I could offer up a shrugging emoji and end the post right here. If we're being honest: Nobody knows.
But the question is worth at least a little more exploration because of how 2019 played out and how the Vikings head into 2020.
First, the good news: The Vikings were 10-5 in their meaningful regular-season games last year and scored a playoff upset of the Saints using a blueprint that should give them hope for this season. They converted a whopping 10 of 18 times on third down, including a handful of third-and-long situations where Cousins made plays. Other times, they largely stayed "on schedule," including basically all of their game-winning TD drive in overtime — which culminated in a Cousins pass to Kyle Rudolph on 3rd-and-goal from the 4.
