The Best, Worst and Most Likely Outcomes for Vikings vs. Colts

The Vikings are getting healthy after their bye week, and the first test after a week away will be against the spiraling Indianapolis Colts. Still, despite the Vikings being favorites, anything can happen in this league, like, say a 33-0 comeback.

Ideally, the Vikings move to 6-0 with a demonstrative win, but it may not be so simple. Here are the best, worst and likliest scenarios for Minnesota's matchup with the Colts in Week 7.

Best Case Scenario: Kyler Murray's upward trajectory continues, defense stays healthy in win

The bye week came at a fortunate time for getting players healthy, but it also might have taken a bit of wind out of the sails of the 5-0 Vikings.

Murray played his best game of the season against the Saints, but will now need to regain a bit of steam against Indianapolis after getting the week off. Fortunately, the 2-4 Colts are fresh off a loss to what were the winless Titans, and will likely be without their top defender in Sauce Gardner. With a healthy receiving corps and the return of Jordan Mason, the excuses will be few and far between for Murray on Sunday.

And while there's little question that the defense will once again show up for Minnesota, they do need keep the injury bug away. Eight defensive starters have played at least 80% of the snaps this season, and their health has been key to driving one of the best defenses in football. Coming out of Week 7 without injury will be the ultimate goal in what should otherwise be a quick dispatch of Daniel Jones and company.

Worst Case Scenario: Colts reveal the Brian Flores blueprint, receivers no show again

Five games into the season, opposing offenses still haven't figured out how to break Flores' scheme, but at some point there's bound to be some progress. Obviously teams know the pressure is coming, but the difficult part of playing the Vikings is their disguises and pre-snap confusion. Still, no system is without their tells, and eventually you'd think some team latches on to something...anything.

A loss to Indy isn't the end of the world, but if Shane Steichen exposes a crack in the armor, the Vikings defense may be forced to get even more creative the rest of the way (if such a thing is possible).

On offense, things are trending up, but Minnesota is still looking for much better production out of Jordan Addison and Jauan Jennings. If neither impress against the Colts, the trade talks for either may see a big spike.

Jennings' name has already been a hot topic after notching just two catches on the season, but Addison may fetch more value, and is already on track for a third-straight year of worse production than his standout rookie year.

Likeliest Scenario: The Vikings look good enough, but once again take advantage of a bad team

The combined record from the Vikings previous three opponents is just 3-14, which isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of their undefeated season. The Colts are 2-4, and just lost to the previously 0-5 Titans, prompting the firing of longtime general manager Chris Ballard. A win is expected here to move to 6-0, but it won't do much to dispel the notions that Minnesota is punching above their weight this season.

National opinions aside, though, the Vikings offense hopefully once again shows some progress, while the defense continues their historic level of dominance. At this point, the playoffs are almost a certainty with a 91% chance according to ESPN, so marginal improvement week-to-week is the most important thing.

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