The Vikings were undone by surprising rookie quarterback Josh Allen in their 27-6 loss to the Bills on Sunday, and now they will face against even tougher competition in the next two weeks from two of the NFL's best young quarterbacks and two of the top teams in the league.
Thursday night they face Jared Goff, who has led Los Angeles to the lone 3-0 start in the NFC and helped the Rams become a Super Bowl contender. Next Sunday, they battle the Philadelphia Eagles and Carson Wentz, who was the MVP favorite last season before tearing the ACL in his left knee in Week 14.
Goff's 111.0 quarterback rating is third in the NFC behind the Buccaneers' Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Saints' Drew Brees. He has thrown six touchdowns against two interceptions and has been sacked only four times.
You have to hope the Las Vegas oddsmakers are more accurate this time, after picking the Vikings as 17-point favorites against Buffalo. Heading into Thursday night the host Rams are only seven-point favorites, which normally points to a road team having a good chance to win the game.
There has to be a lot of concern with the Vikings defense, after it gave up 62 points in the final six quarters of the playoffs last season and has given up 72 more in three games this season.
Yes, the Vikings did a good job of defending 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in their first two games, but now they will face two great back-to-back challenges in Goff and Wentz.
If they lose both road games, the Vikings will have a 1-3-1 record — a big disadvantage when competing for a postseason berth or home-field advantage in the playoffs.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is coming off maybe the worst first half of his career and will have a big challenge against the Rams defense, which ranks sixth against the pass (199.3 yards per game) in the NFL.