Ranking all remaining games on the Minnesota Vikings schedule by difficulty

With the Vikings coming off a bye at 5-0 this week, it seems like a good time to re-evaluate their remaining schedule based on what has happened so far this season. Obviously, the Vikings have exceeded even the highest external expectations with a perfect start against a difficult starting lineup of opponents, but how have the rest of the teams on their schedule fared?

Entering Week 6, the Vikings have the 14th easiest remaining schedule based on current win percentage. Let's rank the 12 remaining regular season games from hardest to easiest.

There are still almost three months until then, so a lot can still change. But the Lions are clearly the best team the Vikings have yet to face, and winning in Detroit is inherently more difficult than at US Bank Stadium. The Lions are fifth in DVOA so far (the Vikings are first!) and look to be a Super Bowl contender once again. The caveat to every Week 18 game is that the NFC's No. 1 seed could be on the line, or there could be nothing on the line at all.

This will be fun. If the Lions beat the Cowboys this week and move to 4-1, first place in the NFC North will be on the line Oct. 20 in Minneapolis. The environment at The Bank should be pretty crazy for the Vikings' first home game since this week 3. Add in a possible return of TJ Hockenson and this could be one of the games of the year in the NFL between two excellent, versatile teams. Buckle up.

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The Seahawks have suffered two straight losses since going 0-3, but are still a dangerous team with a strong offense. Geno Smith has a full complement of weapons with DK Metcalf, Kenneth Walker III, Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The defense is also solid, despite holding the Lions to 42 points, and Seattle is always a tough place to play.

After a fairly long, easy stretch of the schedule, the Vikings' final three games are all tough games, so building a cushion in the division over the next few months would be huge. Between the trips to Seattle and Detroit, the second leg against Green Bay will take place at home. Matt LaFleur, Jordan Love and Co. will try to make some adjustments and avoid having to climb out of a 28-0 hole this time. Beating the Packers with a quarterback healthy for both games (thus eliminating 2017) is something the Vikings haven't done since 2009.

The Bears aren't currently a better team than the one you'll see next on this list, but playing at Soldier Field is tough and Chicago appears to be on an upward trajectory with No. 1 pick Caleb Williams at the helm. They have won two straight, including a win over the Panthers, and Williams appears to be finding his feet in the NFL. A handful of them could be on the move by the end of November. Or maybe I put this point too high and this is an easy Vikings win, pitting Brian Flores against a rookie QB.

Kirk Cousins' revenge game will be very special. ATL Kirko posted a 509-yard, four-touchdown performance in the Falcons' epic win over the Buccaneers last week. He's thriving after a tough Week 1 raised questions about the health of his Achilles tendon, and Atlanta also has some issues on defense. I can't wait for this game. The fact that the Vikings are at home helps us a lot.

I know the Rams are 1-4 and have a terrible defense and no home field advantage, but it's still Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford. The return of Cooper Kupp and/or Puka Nacua in this game would potentially move it up a few spots on this list, but that is uncertain. The hardest part of this game is traveling to the West Coast in a short week.

Arizona is a difficult team to understand. They tied the Bills and Lions in losses, destroyed the Rams, got destroyed by the Commanders and then rallied last week to beat the 49ers. The defense seems bad, but the offense with Kyler Murray, James Conner, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride could be pretty good. Again, it helps that the Vikings will be at US Bank Stadium.

Again, I don't know if the bears are good or not, but they might look very different in mid-December than they do now. I'm very interested to see if Williams can keep Chicago in the wild card mix all season long.

The Colts aren't a good team, but they're also not as much of a disaster as the two teams below them in the AFC South standings. This game probably scares the Vikings more with Joe Flacco at quarterback than with Anthony Richardson. In any case, Minnesota should score at home.

It's a duel for the last two places. The Jags have the worst defense in the league and finally got their first win of the season in Week 5. They're here because Trevor Lawrence is theoretically a slightly bigger threat than Will Levis.

Levis against Flores has a total of 4-5 turnovers. The Titans' defense is actually solid, but their offense is so disorganized that it's hard to imagine, even in Nashville, that they can keep up with the Vikings.