The Minnesota Vikings sail into Tampa Bay to take on the Buccaneers this week. After a very competitive loss against the Bengals in Week 1, the Buccaneers lost to the lowly Cleveland Browns. Tampa will be looking to turn around their luck against the 2-0 Vikings. The Viking offense has not looked great, as some might expect, after Kyler Murray went down. The Vikings will hope the offense can get into a rythm now that Murray is back.
Series Record: 33-24
Road Record: 14-14
Streak: L2
Largest Victory:
49-20, 10/23/1988
Largest Defeat: 41-13, 10/29/2000
Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma (gross) will be on the call for Fox in the late afternoon window.
- The teams first met in 1977, a 9-3 Viking victory in Tampa.
- The last meeting between these teams came in the Vikings’ 2023 hom opener. Despite outgaining Tamp Bay and getting 150 yards from Justin Jefferson, the Vikings lost 20-17 mostly due to three costly turnovers.
- The Vikings have struggled in this series recently, going 2-8 in their last 10 meetings with Tampa Bay.
- The Vikings are tied for 1st in the NFL with a +3 turnover differential.
- The Buccaneers are 30th in the NFL with a -4 turnover differential.
There is certainly some uncertainty with the Vikings offense. It will be interesting to see what the offense looks like with Kyler at the helm for an extended period of time. The Vikings will be thin at running back, so they’ll likely depend on Murray to move the chains. That being said…the Vikings lead the league in sacks and the Buccaneers can’t block anyone. It’s going to be hard to see a way Tampa’s turnover prone offense is going to succeed against this Vikings defense that comes into the game on an absolute tear. I can’t see the Vikings allowing Baker Mayfield to disrupt that momentum.
Vikings 24 – Tampa 6
