No. 8 and 7 NFL teams in 2022 NFL season
No. 8 – Minnesota Vikings
The first team that just misses the playoffs is the Minnesota Vikings. After firing Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman, the Vikings are turning to Kevin O’Connell to be the new head coach.
The Vikings aren’t yet done with the Kirk Cousins experience, either. In fact, they added a handful of pieces to their defense that was quite poor last year.
Their offense has never been the issue. Moving the ball down the field for the Vikings has come rather easy in the Cousins era, but their defense the past two seasons was less than ideal.
However, adding players like Harrison Phillips and Za’Darius Smith are surely going to help the team compete in the NFC North. I think they comfortably finish second in their division but are probably just barely on the outside looking in.
No. 7 – Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals looked like the best team in the NFL during the first half of the season and the worst team in the league during the second half. They’re an interesting team to study, as well.
While it looks like Kyler Murray and the team will get a deal done, what kind of Cardinals team is going to show up this year? They’ve got adequate pieces on both sides of the ball, but are clearly an inconsistent club.
They did lose Chandler Jones and will have to endure the suspension of DeAndre Hopkins.
Their defense needs to see the rise of Zaven Collins as well.
I think Arizona is still talented enough to sneak into the playoffs, but I don’t see them doing anything more than that.