Hello everyone and welcome to the Week 4 Minnesota Vikings roundtable here at Daily Norseman! The Vikes are coming off a shellacking of the Bengals, and now will turn their efforts toward the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first of back-to-back international affairs for the local boys. Who’s ready for some morning football? Let’s talk to it.
—
### Question 1: How does your NFL Sunday differ when there’s a game that’s played in the morning locally?
**Brandon Warne:**
Probably not too much. I have two young kids, so I’m up well before kickoff anyway. I might sneak an earbud in my right ear during church, but please don’t tell Pastor Molstre (he’s a Vikings fan, too). I’m working a game in the late window — Colts at Rams — so I’m sure I’ll spend the early window watching whichever game is on locally. All in all, a nice little Sunday.
**Christopher Gates:**
Well, obviously, there’s dragging yourself out of bed at a much earlier time rather than sleeping in. But it isn’t that much different from when the Vikings are on a bye or they play a prime-time game. After the Vikings game is over, I’ll probably fire up the Red Zone channel for at least a little bit or (more likely) end up mowing my yard while I listen to the SiriusXM NFL channel on my phone.
**David Stefano:**
Morning games mean an extra 3.5-4 hours of football watching, plus the bonus of enjoying breakfast food during the pre-game buildup.
**Sam Buegler:**
Generally, I try to treat myself more when we have the early morning games. I get up slightly earlier so I can make a nice breakfast, have more bougie coffee than the usual Keurig affair (pourover or French press), and sit back and enjoy the game. Then, the rest of the day, if I am free, ends up being Redzone! I enjoy having early mornings so the rest of my football-watching day can be stress-free.
—
### Question 2: How would you grade Carson Wentz’s Week 3 performance? What do you think he’ll do in Week 4 (pass comp/att, pass yds, TD/INT, any other pertinent stats)?
**Brandon Warne:**
I think it’s trickier than it seems. I’ve seen people say he shouldn’t relinquish the job when J.J. McCarthy gets healthy, and I’ve seen people say McCarthy should rest easy that his job will be waiting for him whenever he’s good to go. I think both of those are preposterous; we’ve seen one game of Wentz. It wasn’t particularly good by many measures — 35.3 QBR on ESPN and a 61.4 PFF grade — but he did what was asked of him. You can’t really know much about a quarterback until you see him in the deep end of the pool. So for now, I’d say incomplete. Gun to my head? C+.
**Christopher Gates:**
I think he played well enough, given the circumstances. He took a few sacks that were a little ugly, but otherwise, he got the ball to open guys and moved the offense when he had to. I’m sure it helped having Christian Darrisaw back, and I’m sure it will help just as much to have Jordan Addison back this week. I don’t think Wentz is a terrible quarterback or anything. He’s the sort of guy that NFL teams want as a backup, and I think the Vikings are lucky that he was still out there in free agency after the Sam Howell experiment blew up on them. I think he will have another solid performance this week, completing about 65 percent of his passes and throwing a couple more touchdown passes. Hopefully, he can continue avoiding turnovers.
**David Stefano:**
Fair to middling. Nothing spectacular, but smooth enough to keep the offense moving for the most part and, most importantly, he didn’t screw it up. As for stats, I predict 20/30 completions, 225 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 turnover of some type (either INT or fumble).
**Sam Buegler:**
I’d say a B-. A very solid outing, nothing too flashy or incredible, but he did enough to get the job done. The offense wasn’t the best we’ve seen, but we got the win. Week 4, I think he will once again play well. I would expect a few sacks and maybe an INT, but he will be enough of a game manager to put the dub in Dublin.
—
### Question 3: Let’s say you’re Roger Goodell (*shudder*) and you’re in charge of picking the next location for the Vikings to play an overseas game in a future season. You have to pick somewhere that has never hosted a game. Where are you choosing? (Feel free to list a venue, too.)
**Brandon Warne:**
In the interest of full disclosure, I got to see all the answers as I was putting this together. However, my answers were either Norway or Iceland. Both have distinct Viking ties, ranging from direct lineage to the SKOL chant. If you made me choose someplace else, I’d have to say Italy? Wikipedia lists four venues with occupancy of 50,000-plus, so there are options. Stadio Olimpico in Rome would probably be the leader in the clubhouse for me.
**Christopher Gates:**
SunCorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. I’m slightly biased on this front because my wife is from Australia, but I would like to see the Vikings play a game down under. They’ve won games (regular and exhibition) in North America, Europe, and Asia (they had an exhibition game in Japan during the Warren Moon years), so they could add another continent to the list. Then they’d just have to get South America and Africa somehow. And Antarctica, I suppose, but the logistics behind that one might be a little trickier.
**David Stefano:**
Reykjavik, Iceland would be my choice, though they’d need to build or significantly modify a stadium. Their largest venue, Laugardalsvollur, only seats 15,000. I’d love to hear Icelanders join in the SKOL chant!
**Sam Buegler:**
Norway. I am a proud Norwegian, and it feels just too right for the Vikings to be the first team to play there. Somewhere in Scandinavia deserves a game, so why not play it there! As for location, the Brann Stadion in Bergen is a slightly smaller venue, but it has a better view than others I have seen. Bergen as a whole is too gorgeous not to play there. Although it would most likely end up being in Oslo, which still would be fantastic.
—
### Question 4: What is your biggest concern about facing the Steelers? Do you have a favorite storyline you’re following?
**Brandon Warne:**
Aaron Rodgers and D.K. Metcalf haven’t exactly been in sync so far through three games, so I think that’s at the forefront for me. Add to that the cerebral battle between Rodgers and Harrison Smith — possibly, if not likely, the last one we’ll see — and I think it’s pretty easy to find two very specific storylines to watch. I think we can all agree we don’t want to see Rodgers look like vintage A-Rodg in this one.
**Christopher Gates:**
My biggest concern is Aaron Rodgers potentially having a big game, even though he hasn’t been particularly great through the first three weeks of the season. He’s been a thorn in the Vikings’ side his entire career, and with all of the rumors we heard about him wanting to come to Minnesota this offseason and being rebuffed, he might reach deep into his bag and thwart this team’s efforts one more time. The Steelers haven’t gotten anything going in the run game so far this season, so their chances of winning rest almost entirely with Rodgers, in my opinion. I really do not want to see him go off on Sunday.
**David Stefano:**
Aaron Rodgers doing Aaron Rodgers things, especially with his mental battle versus Harrison “Hitman” Smith. I’m somewhat concerned about T.J. Watt disrupting our offensive rhythm, particularly his chess match against Brian O’Neill. As for storylines, I’m following the Vikings’ return to Dublin, a city with Norse founding heritage. Can our team reclaim victory in this historically significant location?
**Sam Buegler:**
I am excited to see Rodgers vs. Smith. It is simply a classic matchup, and I am hoping to see an interception or a sack from the Hitman. Otherwise, I think that the Vikings’ good play overseas will be interesting to see, especially since we have back-to-back games here. How that will impact the players might determine the future of an expansion overseas.
—
### Question 5: What’s your final score/result prediction?
**Brandon Warne:**
I’ll take the Vikings by 10, 24-14. I just think the defense will do enough to keep Rodgers uncomfortable all day, but will still likely give up a couple scores in what ends up still being a comfortable — for a KOC-coached team, anyway — win.
**Christopher Gates:**
I think that the Vikings end up winning this game. The defense seems to have gotten its groove back after that ugly performance against Atlanta, and the Steelers’ struggles on the ground are going to leave them vulnerable to Brian Flores’ bag of tricks. I think Rodgers will be able to keep them in it for a while, but eventually Jordan Mason will wear the Pittsburgh defense down and help push this team to a 24-20 victory.
**David Stefano:**
Vikings 31, Steelers 14.
**Sam Buegler:**
Vikings 24, Steelers 20. It will be a close game all the way through, but I think that the Vikings will get the job done and move to 3-1.
—
Thanks for joining us for our Week 4 Vikings roundtable! Be sure to tune in Sunday morning and follow along as the Vikings take on the Steelers in Dublin. SKOL!
https://www.dailynorseman.com/general/91305/week-4-roundtable-minnesota-vikings-vs-pittsburgh-steelers-bubblin-in-dublin