0-3

The Minnesota Vikings have started the 2020 NFL season 0-3. It doesn't matter much that Dalvin Cook rushed for 181 yards last week or that rookie Justin Jefferson broke out with 175 receiving yards or that newcomer Yannick Ngakoue has a strip-sack in each of the past two games. A loss is always a loss no matter how promising a few things might be. There's nothing good about starting 0-3. In their 60 year history the Vikings have now started 0-3 six times.

Minnesota Vikings 0-3 History

1962

Started: 0-5

Finished: 2-11-1

1967

Started: 0-4

Finished: 3-8-3

2002

Started: 0-4

Finished: 6-10

2011

Started: 0-4

Finished: 3-13

2013

Started: 0-3

Finished: 5-10-1

2020

Started: 0-3

Finished: ?

In the previous five 0-3 starts, the losing streak continued to a fourth game four times. 

So, what's the Vikings' 0-3 history have to do with this year's 0-3 team? Other than the three-game start, not a damn thing. As far as I'm concerned, the Vikings can still finish the season with a 13-3 record. They've had 10- and 12-game winning streaks before. Why not 13? They started 2-2 in 2017 and won 11 of the next 12 games, finishing 13-3. If asked before the season, I think that every Vikings fan would happily take a 13-3 season. So what if all of the losses came at the start of the season. 

Everyone in the NFL says that the most important game is the next game. "Take 'em one at a time." That's rarely more true than when a team has lost the previous three. Beat Houston in Houston tomorrow. Beat Seattle in Seattle (Isn't it always in Seattle?) next week. Beat Atlanta in Minnesota in two weeks. Just like that, the Vikings are 3-3 at their Week 7 bye. So rosy. It's a tough three-game stretch, especially Seattle in Seattle, but an NFL season isn't supposed easy. It's even more difficult when a team is 0-3. 

The season isn't over. History isn't always an indicator as to how things will play out in the present. Or future. Sometimes history is used as a substitute for thinking. Or hoping. The Vikings have never crawled out of such a hole so what's the point of it all. That sort of attitude isn't fun. The journey is fun. Football is fun. Watching the Vikings crawl out of this shitty start will be a blast. I'm all in. Maybe they won't scratch out a path to the playoffs. But maybe they will. Hell, they've so far beaten back a serious COVID threat this week. Who knows what they can beat next? Hopefully, it's the Texans. The Vikings have to get that first win. They have to get it tomorrow. Then, it's on to the second win. And then the third. And so on...

On the flip-side of the Vikings' 0-3 history here's a snapshot of what they've done with a couple spectacular starts:

2003

Started: 6-0

Finished: 9-7-no playoffs

2016

Started: 5-0

Finished: 8-8-no playoffs