Who has the better year: Vikings vs. Timberwolves
4. Expectation and Potential
With both sports having cult like followings, there have been many articles and “expert” opinions on how both of these teams will do this next season. Both the Vikings and Timberwolves often don’t live up to their hype, but instead do well when people least expect them too.
That being said ESPN used their real plus-minus (RPM) algorithm to predict that the Timberwolves would win 50 games next year. This same system would have them projected to be the fourth seed for the playoffs in the Western Conference next year.
As much as this report was music to many hungry Timberwolves fans, we shouldn’t read too much into projections. How many times have we heard that the Timberwolves would make the playoffs only to have our hopes crushed?
On paper, the Timberwolves should be as good as ESPN says, but only the test of time will say for sure. The Timberwolves have the potential to be as good as ESPN suggests.
If they make it to the playoffs they also may have the potential to knock off a team in the first round depending on their match up. I don’t expect them to do much more than that this season in all honesty.
The Timberwolves are young, if they were to make the playoffs and win a series this year fans would be ecstatic.
On the other hand, according to USA Today the Vikings will be 9-7 which will rank them second in the division behind Green Bay. I hate the Packers. If USA Today’s projections were correct the Vikings wouldn’t be anywhere close to a playoff spot.
There is no doubt that expectations for the Vikings are much lower than they were last year. The Vikings were picked by many to go to the Super Bowl in 2016.
After a stunning collapse from a 5-0 start many pundits have lost faith in the Vikings.
That’s fine, I like it when people underestimate the Vikings. With little to no expectations for a team that looks very similar to last year, look for a healthy Vikings team to pick up where they left off last year.
The potential for the Vikings is also much higher this season than for the Timberwolves. If the Vikings can recapture the level of play from the beginning of last year then they will be a legitimate Super Bowl threat in the NFC.
I believe that curses in sports can only be broken through truly inspirational stories. How about the Vikings breaking their Super Bowl curse as the first team to play in front of their home crowd?
That would be a great story, and who knows it could become a reality.
Expectation Winner: Timberwolves
Potential Winner: Vikings