After the Vikings absolutely destroyed Green Bay in the last 20 minutes of last Sunday’s game, I found myself with more questions than answers. The similarity to the week one victory of the 2025 season, against the Chicago Bears, are readily apparent. It was an exciting finish to a game that looked like it was a lost cause for most of the contest.
Last season we saw a team that could not win games when it mattered, as evidenced by the five straight victories after playoff contention was lost. Keeping
that in mind, I am asking a question with the intention of giving us insight about what to expect. Who am I asking, you might ask? That’s a great question! I am consulting the Norse gods.
I Had Runes Before It Was Cool!
My incredible life partner wanted me to get in touch with my Nordic roots. As the son of a full-blooded Norwegian and a descendant of the Germanic people, runes are a part of my heritage. Most, if not all, of us have seen the Minnesota Vikings Nordic inspired jerseys and apparel. It seems fitting that I try to navigate what to expect this season by using the ancient mythology.
Although I have had these runes for a while, I am still in the very early stages of learning how they work and what to use them for. I figured asking questions about the Minnesota Vikings was a great way to begin this journey. I am going to begin by explaining how a rune reading works and about the different facets of the practice. Then, I will examine a question using the ancient method. During examination and after, I will draw my conclusions about what I saw.
There are many different variations when casting runes. For the purposes here, I am doing a 5-rune cast. Each rune represents a unique facet of the proposed questioned and provides a nuanced picture. The question I asked Odin himself pertains to whether or not the Vikings are legitimate contenders or if they are destined to end the season in mediocrity. The question I posed to encompass the context of the team and the season was a simple one: “Do the Minnesota Vikings have a path to the playoffs?”
He Who Cast the First (5) Stone(s)
Please, excuse the potato quality of my rune cast photo. I took it in my kitchen with terrible lighting. In a five-rune cast, the first symbol drawn represents the current state of affairs.
The first symbol shown is Isa, which translates to ice. It represents challenge, frustration, and psychological blocks. This could encompass many things. For one, Jordan Mason was a surprise add to IR after coming out of Sunday’s win with a sore thumb. There were also a number of miscues on both the offense and the defense in the game against the Packers. Pass blocking was atrocious at times on Sunday and the Vikings’ secondary got torched on multiple occasions by Christian Watson and Tucker Kraft. Even though Minnesota snuck out with a win, I am sure the film room and practice was filled with what I will describe positively as “opportunities for improvement.”
Isa also reinforces the runes around it, and you’ll notice that the next rune is blank. This second rune denotes obstacles and challenges.
In rune divination, the blank rune—also called the Wyrd rune, Odin’s rune, or Rune of Fate—is a special tile or stone with no inscription. It is not part of the original 24‑rune Elder Futhark but was added by modern practitioners (notably Ralph Blum) to represent the concept of “absence” or “the unknown.”
Odin’s rune is telling us that the Vikings will face adversity, as they always do, but it may manifest itself in unforeseen ways. We could potentially see a disconnect between perception of this team and what they actually are. Any given Sunday is the phrase that comes to mind for me here, and the sense I get is that we are in for one chaotic season. Another interpretation I have for this rune is that no matter how much conjecture or reasoning I employ to predict how the Minnesota Vikings’ will fair throughout the rest of the season, I have no idea what is going to happen, which is funny, because predicting what is going to happen is kind of the premise of this piece.
The third rune in the cast reveals goals and desires. The third symbol shown is “Jera”, which translates to a year/a good harvest. This is very encouraging as it represents the Vikings organization’s desire to realize the results of earlier efforts. It tells me that Kevin O’Connell and crew are putting in the work and that the team has a clear goal to improve week over week and manifest success.
It also represents the cyclical pattern of the universe, which makes sense here because the NFL season happens every year in the same manner, just with different outcomes. The Jera rune is a symbol of change, and I am going to choose to view that change as positive. The goal of this team has to be to overcome the stigma of being the historically best team to never have won a Super Bowl. Anything short of desiring success would be a failure to conceptualize a fruitful path forward.
The fourth rune provides guiding insight or advice. This one really resonated with me because of some things that I saw on Sunday. Ansuz translates to As/Odin. It provides insight and represents a few concepts: communication, true vision, truth, wisdom, blessings, the taking of advice. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, “that sounds pretty good.” Unfortunately, what you probably don’t know is that when I “cast” this particular rune, it presented itself as inverted. When a rune presents itself upside down, it is referred to as “Merkstave” or reversed meaning.
The inverse of Ansuz is characterized by misunderstanding, delusion, manipulation by others, boredom, and vanity. One word sticks out here, to me, and that word is vanity. There were a couple of occasions where we saw some selfish tendencies. One play in particular, from Dallas Turner, during his strip-sack of Jordan Love. After getting the sack, you can see Turner start to celebrate before the whistle. Instead of keeping his focus on the play, he wanted to look cool after his disruption of the quarterback.
I’m not saying that he would have been able to recover the ball, since it took a fortunate Green Bay bounce, but he might have had a chance. Another moment was when Harrison Smith had an interception pass right through his arms. Instead of continuing the play, and maybe he assumed it was an incomplete pass, he had a moment of weakness. He put his head down on the field and just laid there instead of helping block for his teammate James Pierre.
The fifth and final rune represents potential outcomes and where the current path the Vikings are on will take them. This is a very promising sign to wrap up this cast. Ehwaz translates to horse and is indicative of change, steady progress, teamwork, loyalty, and trust. All of these characteristics inform the casting as a whole, as the fifth rune is typically viewed individually and as a way to encompass the message communicated in a reading. Kevin O’Connell and his players are always talking about leaning on each other and making each other better. Even when the chips are down, this team will find a way to fight.
Now, let’s turn back to the question asked of the Norse deities: “Do the Minnesota Vikings have a path to the playoffs.” In summation, I would say the answer falls somewhere along the lines of, yes, if they are able to stay focused and keep the end goal in mind. Both the offense and defense need to play cohesive units. Players need to hold each other accountable to their roles and assignments. The path to success isn’t built by the individual, but rather by a group of individuals who can lift each other up to achieve something greater than themselves.
Is Reality in the Room with Us?
As we progress through the season, I hope to do more casts to see if I am able to truly tap into something. Now, do I think Odin is real and that I can actually talk to him? Yes, I do, so deal with it! You might think I’m a little bit Looney Tunes for that, which is understandable. This is a fun exercise that gives me hope that this season is going to be an exciting and successful one to watch. The week one game against the Packers definitely had some flukey undertones reminiscent to the start of the 2025 season. I’m sure you remember week 2 of last where when J.J. McCarthy was obliterated for an entire game and the Viking’s offense was rendered ineffective. If this team can embody Ehwaz to create the best path forward, I think we will see many resounding, non-flukey victories this season.
Like I mentioned before, I want to continue asking Odin and Co. questions all season long. I am going to stay on this path for the 2026 season and to see if it’s all just a bunch of mumbo jumbo, or if maybe, just maybe, there is something to this ancient practice. For now, I will patiently wait to see how things unfold, starting with this Sunday against the Chicago Bears. Brian Flores has to bring an airtight defensive strategy and the defense needs to execute it in effectively. They will really need to lean on each other to counteract the elusiveness and escapability of Caleb Williams. Maintaining gaps and assignments is going to be an important factor in determining success. The defense has to play disciplined and contain this offense.
On the other side of the ball, I am looking for improvement in pass blocking. Especially now with Murray’s concussion and due to Carson Wentz’ advanced age (for football), the offensive line needs to protect whoever lines up behind center. Whatever obstacles kept them from effectively diminishing the effect of the Packers’ defensive line must be overcome going forward. One of the best ways to do that is to maintain the commitment to running the football, which may prove challenging given the current depth of the running back room.
One note I will make on special teams is that Myles Price is electric. Last season, he had numerous kick returns called back due to penalties, most notably committed by Tavierre Thomas. For all intents and purposes, it looks like Thomas has been replaced by Deejay Dallas. Hopefully he can keep making momentum shifting plays on kick returns, even with his expected increased role with the offense.
All that said, my hopeful prediction is that the Vikings leave Chicago after a resounding victory and with sole ownership of the NFC North. The division is wide open this season and every game against a divisional opponent is, as always, a pivotal one. If you are up for it, join me Sunday in channeling the power of the Norse gods and manifesting a victory over Chicago. We could be looking at this game much later in the season as a defining one that had repercussions far beyond September 20th.
Until next time.
SKOL
