The preseason for the Minnesota Vikings is officially in the books, and the real football can finally begin. Not that preseason isn’t important, hundreds of players around the league who are on the fringe of the 53-man roster fighting to earn a spot and a paycheck certainly has meaning. But once you get to this point in the year, all you crave is regular season football to get going. Can you believe we used to have a preseason with four games instead of three? How did we ever get through that?
The Vikings went on the road Friday night to pay a visit to the Titans for their final preseason matchup, and it, again, was Max Brosmer for Minnesota who got a bulk of the work. Brosmer, who only completed 55% of his passes against the Patriots a week ago, improved modestly going 15/23 (65%) for 161 yards and a touchdown. Bretty Rypien also played 14-snaps, but only completed 50% of his throws including an interception.
Jeshaun Jones and Thayer Thomas both led the Vikings in catches with four each, but Bryson Nesbit was the only receiver to find the end zone for Minnesota. The Vikings dropped the game 23-13 and finished the preseason 1-2, splitting their home contests and falling in their lone road game last night.
The Vikings front office will now sit down to make the tough decisions on who makes the 53-man roster, who will join the practice squad and who will be looking for employment in the coming weeks. The team itself will begin to prepare for their massive week one matchup with their division foe, the Chicago Bears. While the Bears have not posed much of a threat in the most recent years, they certainly earned a lot of respect from opponents after they beefed up their offensive line in the offseason, added a few weapons around Caleb Williams, and hired one of the best offensive minds as their head coach in Ben Johnson.
The Bears and Vikings will face off in Chicago at Soldier Field on September 8th at 7:15 PM CT on Monday Night Football. It will certainly be a true test for JJ McCarthy who is expected to make his first NFL start that night. The Vikings opened as 2.5 point favorites, but as of today the line as moved to Minnesota -2 with the total at 43.5. You will also be able to listen to the game live on KMLO and KPLO.
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