The Minnesota Vikings open the 2023 campaign at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After finishing last season 13-4, the Vikings lost in the first round of the playoffs. With Aaron Rodgers out of the division, the NFC North is up for grabs once again. Can Minnesota win it again? It all starts Sunday, and Minnesota is favored by six points. Here are four Vikings Week 1 predictions:

 

1. Justin Jefferson starts a record-breaking season

Calvin Johnson currently holds the NFL record for receiving yards in a season, with 1,964. However, that was when an NFL season contained 16 games. With 17 games now on the schedule, some of the single-season records are bound to start falling. Cooper Kupp got close to Johnson's record with his unbelievable 2021 campaign, but capped out just 17 yards short.

Justin Jefferson is already off to the best start to a career by any receiver in NFL history. His 4,825 yards through three years are unfathomable. Here's a comparison: when Mike Evans was drafted by the Buccaneers in 2014, Jefferson was 14 years old. Evans has amassed over 1,000 receiving yards in every season since then. Jefferson has played three NFL seasons and has forty-six percent of the career receiving yards that Evans has (10,425). Most consider Evans a future Hall of Famer.

Jefferson led the league in receptions, yards and yards per game last year. That was with a few duds in there last year too. In Week 3, he had just 14 yards, and he had just 15 in Week 17.

It takes 115.6 yards per game over a full 17 games to surpass Johnson's record. After averaging 106.4 a year ago, is it so hard to imagine Jefferson reaching those numbers? He will only keep improving, and this will be the year he breaks Johnson's record.

So, what does that mean for Week 1 against the Buccaneers? In Week 1 of last year, Jefferson caught nine passes for 184 yards. His career high is 233 yards. Don't be surprised if Jefferson reaches 200 on Sunday.

 

2. Kirk Cousins throws 50+ times

The Vikings finished third in the NFL in pass attempts and completions in 2022. Since then, their best running back, Dalvin Cook, has left the team, they drafted WR Jordan Addison in the first round, and they spent nearly $70 million on a contract extension for TE T.J. Hockenson. Signs point towards a very pass-heavy offense.

The Buccaneers also like to throw the ball, or at least they did last year with Tom Brady, ranking first in passing volume. Between the Vikings' suspect defense, which finished near the bottom of the league in most categories, and the Buccaneers injury-prone defense, this game could be headed towards a shootout.

Kirk Cousins reached 50 pass attempts twice last year and averaged nearly 40 attempts per game. With a stacked set of weapons, expect Cousins to be slinging it on Sunday.

 

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3. The over (45.5 points) hits

On FanDuel, the over/under for the Vikings/Buccaneers game is 45.5 points. 11 Vikings games surpassed that number in 2022. As mentioned before, Minnesota's defense couldn't stop a parked car last year. They allowed over 25 points per game, while the offense finished seventh in scoring at 24.9, despite posting just three points against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 11.

The point is Vikings final scores often look like college football scores. Pair the questionable defenses with the increased chance of huge mistakes due to Week 1 rust, and this game could be a high-scoring affair. Expect both teams to throw the ball a lot, and expect both defenses to struggle to stop them from doing so.

 

4. Jordan Addison scores a TD in his NFL debut

The Vikings drafted Jordan Addison with the 23rd pick in the draft. While Justin Jefferson consistently commands double teams, Addison will have favorable matchups with No. 2 cornerbacks. This combination will be lethal for opposing defenses to game plan for.

In his junior year at Pitt, Addison caught 16 touchdown passes. Through his first four games at USC in 2022, he caught six more. Injuries hampered his production later in the year, but he had no problem adapting to his new situation. In a pass-heavy scheme, Addison should immediately start to make an impact in this highly-productive offense. His speed and crisp route-running make him a reliable target in the red zone, and he excels at winning one-on-one matchups.

Look for the Vikings' first-round pick to start paying dividends early.

 

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