What’s waiting for the Vikings next might be the NFL’s nastiest gauntlet

On the surface, it's obviously concerning that the Vikings are just 3-2 so far after playing the schedule they've faced. At the same time, the two opponents they've lost to — the Falcons and Steelers — aren't bad teams. The Falcons just beat the Bills on Monday night, and their overall metrics are hurt by an aberration of a 30-0 loss to the Panthers. The Steelers are 4-1. The Vikings had plenty of opportunities to win both of those games, but losing the turnover battle a combined 6-1 was too much to overcome.

As for the Vikings' remaining schedule, there's no argument that it's a difficult one.

The next four games alone are against the 4-2 Eagles, the 4-2 Chargers (on the road on a short week), the shockingly 1-5 Ravens (who will have Lamar Jackson back), and the 4-2 Lions. Other than the Ravens, the only teams the Vikings will play in the final 12 weeks that currently have a losing record are the Cowboys and Giants. Both of those games are on the road, Dallas has an elite offense, and the Giants just smacked around the Eagles last Thursday.

There are no Bengals or Browns games on the rest of Minnesota's schedule. If the Vikings make it to the playoffs this season, they will certainly have earned it.

With all of that said, the on-paper difficulty of the schedule is no reason to think the Vikings *can't* go at least 7-5 the rest of the way, which is probably what it'll take to make the playoffs in the NFC. After all, this is the NFL. Some teams are obviously better than others, but it's rare to have an easy win. Especially in the Vikings' case, most games — regardless of opponent — seem to come down to one score and be determined by things like turnover margin, red zone efficiency, and penalties.

As everyone reading this knows, the Vikings are fully capable of playing up or down to any level of competition. They can beat the best teams in the league and lose to the worst ones. The only thing that matters moving forward, as cliché as it may be, is trying to find a way to go 1-0 each week.

Let the gauntlet begin.