Last season, the Minnesota Vikings came off two wins better than they were in 2013, but they were still just 7-9 and third in the NFC North. Vikings fans probably won't care too much about missing the playoffs again since they were able to see that they have a good coach in Mike Zimmer and a potential franchise quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater.

The Vikings have a pretty tough schedule coming up this season, but the main thing they will be focused on is improving upon their 1-5 division record.

Home : Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, St. Louis Rams, Seattle Seahawks, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers

Away : Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders

Here are three of the matchups to keep an eye on:

Green Bay Packers : The Vikings are clearly not as talented as the Packers yet, but they should feel that they can pick up at least one win in this series. They haven't done so since 2012, though, and they are just 1-9-1 against Green Bay wince 2010.

Seattle Seahawks: If the Vikings want to keep improving, they need to beat their toughest opponents at home. This is an especially tough matchup for them, though, because their defense struggles against the run and the Seahawks are the top rushing team in the league. If they can pull off this win, they'll have a good chance of moving up in the NFC standings.

Detroit Lions The Vikings went 18-2 against the Lions in the 2000's, but they are just 4-6 against them since 2010, including going 0-2 against them last year. These games are usually low scoring, which means that this is a very tough series to predict.

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