The Minnesota Vikings won 13 games last year and reached the NFC Championship Game, but they entered 2018 with a Super Bowl-or-bust mentality after signing quarterback Kirk Cousins to boost the offense.

While Cousins and the Vikings have scored a lot of points offensively, the top scoring and yardage defense from 2017 has been dreadful. A week after losing 38-31 on the road to the Los Angeles Rams, head coach Mike Zimmer is warning fans and pundits that it's still far too early to predict how 2018 will play out.

"I know everybody wants to evaluate everybody after four weeks, but I think if you remember last year, early in the year, Xavier (Rhodes) had some penalties, but we cleaned them up. This isn't time for 'woe is me,'" Zimmer said, according t o Ben Goessling of the Minnesota Star-Tribune.

"If you remember, we were 2-2 at this time last year; we finished 13-3. We were 5-0 the year before; we finished 8-8. We were 2-2 the year before that, and we finished 11-5. All the predictors are really -- this isn't a good time to predict."

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Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Eagles handed San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo his first loss as a starter in Week 1. After barely salvaging a tie against the Green Bay Packers in Week 2 (a game the Vikings should have won), the Vikings were embarrassed by the lowly Buffalo Bills at home. That was followed up with a loss to the undefeated Rams, leaving Minny at 1-2-1 through a quarter of the season.

Minnesota now must visit the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in Week 5. Despite being without top quarterback Carson Wentz, the Eagles routed the Vikings 38-7, ending Minny's hope of being the first team to host and play in the same Super Bowl.

The good news for the Vikings is that the most brutal part of their schedule is almost out of the way. Having to play three legitimate championship contenders over a four-week span isn't easy, but if the Vikings can escape Philadelphia with a win, they should get back on track and into the playoff race.

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