What isn't included in this year's SKOLdule is the preseason slate.
First comes a visit by Houston then back-to-back games in Ohio (Cincy then Cleveland) before wrapping up at home against Seattle. I know, I gasped a little too at the fact that it will be in Minneapolis! Obviously, all dates and events are as tentative as they could be but those are this year's appetizers for the pro season.
Onto the main course!
Right off the top, I'm not crazy about the regular season ending on the road but a week 17 trip to Detroit may be the easiest of all the road games, which is saying something because both Indy and Houston are very much questionable this year.
Going to Chicago at mid-season is a coin flip since we don't know that Nick Foles will have taken the job, even though it's supremely likely.
I'm also not a fan of the top two teams in the division concluding their meetings that early in the year. I could spin it that it will put more pressure on all the games that follow but even then I don't think it's a great way for the season to unfold.
I put week one as a close second but I think that Dallas's visit to the Palace will go down as the toughest home game of the season. As for the second-toughest road game of the year, that will go to Tampa by a razor-thin margin behind Green Bay. Obviously the 🐘 in the room is whether fans will be in attendance this year which would have implications on the outcomes of all 16 games. If it remains the same from the pre-season through the championship then the players would be able to adjust to the difference and it would have a decreasing effect, in my opinion.
And before moving onto to win/loss predictions, here is the obligatory complaint about Minnesota always playing in Seattle:
It's a shot in the dark. If I actually knew that they will start with four-straight-wins or will close out on a three-game winning streak then I would put a wager on it. The point is that it feels like a 12-4 season which would at minimum have them keeping pace with Green Bay atop the division. And who knows, maybe that would be good enough for them to have a shot at the #1 seed but 13 wins is likely the floor for that distinction. If they're that close then maybe they'll get there but it would require Kirk to win in primetime. Which he showed he can do last year in New Orleans but as yet has not done when the lights are slightly dimmer.