Fandom is a fascinating phenomenon.
Most of us decide to like a team as children, maybe because of a favorite player or family ties, and then proceed to let it have complete and full control of our mental state every weekend for 18 weeks of the year. And that’s not even including the offseason and draft.
This can mean a difficult relationship with your fandom, particularly those of us who somehow ended up as Minnesota Vikings fans. There are many types of fans. The perpetual optimist who begins every season with the wide-eyed hope that this will be the season the Vikings slay their demons and finally hoist the Lombardi. On the other hand is the jaded, battle-weary doomsayer who’s been hurt too many times to open their hearts to hope ever again. I fall somewhere in the middle: I fully expect this team to hurt me in the end, but I plan on enjoying the ride until that happens.
With the Vikings’ schedule release, there’s been a lot of big reactions to the hand this team was dealt — particularly about the unprecedented decision to have Minnesota play back-to-back international games in Dublin and London, marking the first time in NFL history that a team has played consecutive games abroad in two different locations. You’re not alone if you get a strong gut feeling about this one way or another.
How you view this two-game stint across the pond is a bit of a Rorschach Test for your mental state as a Vikings fan.
Starting with the negative, it’s easy to see. Maybe I’m jaded myself, but my first reaction was a groan and grimace. This is unprecedented. The NFL just attempted this for the first time with the Jacksonville Jaguars last season, and even they didn’t have to change locations halfway through their trip abroad. Still, the Vikings didn’t have to give up one of their home games to do so, whereas the idea of fewer games in that dump in Jacksonville was probably appealing to the Jaguars’ brass and the league office.
Personally, I don’t like unprecedented variables being placed on the shoulders of my first-year starting quarterback. Two straight weeks playing on soccer fields for my quarterback, coming off a knee injury, feels less than ideal. I don’t love throwing off the routine of the season by having to move all of your equipment, support staff, coaches, and players to two different locations, one of which is a city you’re completely unfamiliar with as an organization.
It also stinks having such an early bye week, considering the number of veterans on this roster. I could definitely see the likes of Jonathan Allen or Javon Hargrave playing a step slow by the back half of the season, and a late bye week to recharge would’ve been preferable.
Even if it all could turn out fine, it’s a series of question marks and potential pitfalls that will make me nervous going into it. And for it to be so early into J.J. McCarthy’s tenure, where every game may be crucial to building his confidence, there’s a part of me that wishes the organization had fought this rather than trying to bite off more than they could chew.
On the flipside, though, I can see it. You may be all too acclimated with worst-case scenarios as a Minnesota sports fan, but there’s absolutely a way this works out in their favor.
Pittsburgh and Cleveland are not exactly friendly environments for a young quarterback to play in. The Vikings managed to retain all eight of their home games. They’ve essentially turned their schedule into a combo of eight home games, seven away games, and two “neutral” sites. Frankly, calling them “neutral” may be a stretch.
The game in Dublin against the Pittsburgh Steelers may actually favor Pittsburgh as the “home” team. The Steelers have a good international presence and exclusive marketing rights in Ireland as their international tie-in. With Steelers fans abroad and a good traveling fanbase, it could be a 60/40 split of terrible towels and purple jerseys in the stands in Dublin. That said, that’s far less hostile than what McCarthy would encounter at Heinz Field.
If anyone is being screwed in this whole ordeal, I think it’s probably the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland gets to travel across the pond to take on a Vikings team that’s already had a full week to completely acclimate their body clocks and sleep schedule to London time. They are now veterans of playing in London on four separate occasions over the last decade, and will have a clear plan in place to get settled and make the most of their travel advantage. An overmatched Cleveland team traveling to face a settled Minnesota squad with their own uncertainty and inexperience at quarterback.
And while I expressed my frustration over the early bye week, I will also say that if Minnesota wanted their best chance against the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles in Week 7, that extra time to rest before taking on such a physical matchup is helpful.
We’ve got the rest of the summer to pick this schedule apart. But the reality of the schedule is that there’s nothing we can do about it. As McCarthy loves to say, “Amor Fati,” or “Love one’s fate.” The schedule sets up pretty nicely for this team with a runway of favorable matchups before their tougher games in Week 7 onward. If they can manage all the variables of this unprecedented international stint and find a way to use them to their advantage, then it could set them up so they can face their toughest stretches of games without their backs against the wall.