Analysis of the Minnesota Vikings' 2008 Schedule

The NFL released its 2008 regular season schedule for the league on Tuesday and the Minnesota Vikings, with a good start out of the gate, should be able to coast into the NFC Central Division Championship this season despite their so-called tough schedule. With the 2007 Rookie of the Year, Future Hall of Famer, Adrian "All-Day" Peterson being handed the starting job from the get-go this year; with the addition of the Chicago Bear's best wide-out from last year, Bernard Berrian; and with Tarvaris Jackson now stepping into his second year after getting his feet wet and hopefully learning from his mistakes last year (Coach Brad Childress is basically staking his NFL coaching career on the fact that he does); and not forgetting about one of the league's highest scoring defenses returning with a couple of adjustments towards improvement, the Vikings are a sure-in for the Division Title and at least two games deep into the play-offs by the end of their 2008-09 campaign.

According to NFL.com, the Vikings were handed the fifth toughest schedule in the league for the 2008 season, based on the 2007 winning percentage of each team's 2008 opponents. But those figures, I believe, are a little off. I mean, they play the Green Bay Packers twice since they are in the same division. The Packers represent 30 wins and 2 losses during the 2007 season. But unless Aaron Rodgers has a season ending injury during the pre-season, I think the Vikings have finally seen the last of their #1 nemesis, Bret Favre. Rodgers will be paying his dues this season and the Green Bay Packers will be lucky to get 4 wins for the year, none of which will be against the Vikings. The Vikings and Packers kick off the 2008 Monday Night Football ritual, but without Favre at the helm, it just won't be the same. Vikings should win that game easily and provide a healthy boost to Tarvaris Jackson's confidence that he will need to carry with him into the following week.