Detroit Loins has agreed on signing 18 years old stars with $17 million

Perhaps mercifully, the Vikings’ 2023 season came to an end on Sunday. Their final game went about as expected: Justin Jefferson dominated again, the defense’s late-season collapse continued, and any hopes of a comeback ended in two late interceptions thrown by a backup quarterback (in this case, Nick Mullens).

It was quite the ride. The Vikings started 1-4, then ripped off five straight victories to put themselves in a great position to make the playoffs — with the last two of those wins coming via incredible performances from Josh Dobbs after Kirk Cousins suffered a season-ending injury. Then things fell apart; the Vikings lost five of their final six games while starting Dobbs, Mullens, Jaren Hall, and Mullens again. The only win in that span was a 3-0 final against the Raiders.

in the end, a talent-deficient defense had a poor start and a poor finish sandwiched around two great months. The Cousins injury wrecked the season, but he was far from the only key contributor to get hurt. And above all, the Vikings couldn’t overcome a whopping 34 turnovers, the second-most in the league this season. Now they enter a critically important offseason full of questions.

Before we turn to the offseason, let’s analyze the Vikings’ snap counts one final time.

Jefferson was absolutely brilliant in this game, catching 12 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown. He refused to come out until the very last series when a comeback was no longer a possibility. Addison also caught his tenth touchdown pass of his rookie season and Mundt played well again in place of the injured T.J. Hockenson.

In the backfield, Chandler out-snapped and out-produced Mattison. The latter probably won’t be cut this offseason for cap reasons, but he might just be an expensive backup next year unless he’s traded for pennies on the dollar. Minnesota’s 2024 RB1 figures to either be Chandler or someone new.