There is a silver lining to everything in the NFL. Upon first glance, the Minnesota Vikings having to play back-to-back international games was a brutal ask for anyone, let alone a team breaking in a new starting quarterback. Minnesota will play the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 4 at Croke Park in Dublin before taking on the Cleveland Browns at Tottenham in London in Week 5. Could they navigate this?
This is a real opportunity not only for the Vikings to attempt to solve the international games' Rubik's cube, but to see how good the emerging partnership between Kevin O'Connell and J.J. McCarthy will be. Other than the Vikings being arguably better than both AFC North teams, there is one other thing working in their favor. The crowd will be more of a neutral-site variety than we would give it credit for.
Rather than having to play in Pittsburgh and in Cleveland, two NFL cities with loud and passionate fan bases, it will have more of the feel of a college football bowl game. I am not talking about a playoff game, but one of the ones between ACC and Big Ten schools happening somewhere in Florida right before Christmas. The lack of crowd noise could help O'Connell get the most out of McCarthy here.
Not having a true home crowd in Pittsburgh and Cleveland's favor does give the Vikings an edge.
Minnesota Vikings have one thing in their favor of international games
Admittedly, I go back and forth on the nature of international games. While I am all in favor of growing the United States' favorite sport in other countries, losing a precious home game can impact how a team's season shakes out. It is why I believe that, in the future, all 32 teams will play one international game a season. Let's just hope that Roger Goodell will never schedule an international Super Bowl...
But with international games being here to stay in North American sports, we must find new and creative ways to embrace them. Situations like the Vikings are being thrust into will go a long way in proving, or disproving, Goodell's undying belief that the NFL needs to have a team headquartered in London, possibly even an entire division overseas. The fans could win, but probably not the players.
Ultimately, the Vikings' well-run organizational nature will be tested in a big way with these two early international games back-to-back. Most NFL organizations would crumble under the pressure of such a spot. Minnesota is as good a test case as anyone to potentially navigate this that you'll find. At least for the NFL, the league will gain valuable information from this, possibly at the Vikings' expense in all this.
It may not be as loud in these two games, but everyone will be watching to see how Minnesota does.