We’re 13 days from the season opener on Monday Night Football between the Vikings and Saints and the $88 million Minnesota spent to upgrade its awful offensive line doesn’t appear to be paying off.
The Vikings gave left tackle Riley Reiff $58 million and right tackle Mike Remmers $30 million in an attempt to improve an offensive line that allowed the 10th-most sacks and paved the way to the fewest rushing yards in the NFL last season.
Through three preseason games the line hasn’t looked much better, but there’s reason to worry a little bit less.
Check out the Vikings’ first eight opponents and where their defensive lines rank, according to USA Today.
- Saints – 25th
- Steelers – 16th
- Buccaneers – 12th
- Lions – 21st
- Bears – 20th
- Packers – 14th
- Ravens – 28th
- Browns – 23rd
It gets even better for the Vikings when you show Pro Football Focus’ recent rankings of the front sevens the Vikings will face.
- Saints – 29th
- Steelers – 10th
- Buccaneers – 22nd
- Lions – 30th
- Bears – 28th
- Packers – 16th
- Ravens – 21st
- Browns – 24th
In the second half of the season the Vikings will face teams with front sevens rated 20th (Falcons), 23rd (Bengals) and Rams (27th), in addition to another round of games against the Packers, Bears and Lions.
The only top 10 front sevens, per PFF, the Vikings will face all season are the Steelers in Week 2, the Rams (5th) in Week 11, and the Panthers (4th) in Week 14.
This all paints a friendly picture, but then again the offensive line looked terrible against the Bills, Seahawks and 49ers, and the Bills’ and 49ers’ front sevens are rated near the bottom by PFF.
