Have the Vikings already been given the kiss of death for Sunday?

It might be, based on who’s in the booth

There was a significant stretch of time where Joe Buck was Public Enemy #1 for Minnesota Vikings fans when it came to NFL announcers. But recent history suggests that there’s an announcer that might serve as an actual bad luck charm for the purple. . .and he’ll be in the booth at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday when the Vikings host the Kansas City Chiefs.

This Sunday’s game will be on CBS, and the network has assigned their #1 team to the game, sending Jim Nantz and Tony Romo to the Twin Cities to handle the play-by-play. To say that things haven’t gone well for the Vikings with Nantz in the booth is an understatement, to say the least.

According to Jonathan Harrison of Sports Illustrated, Nantz hasn’t been in the booth for a Minnesota Vikings victory since 2013. The last time Nantz called a Vikings win, Tony Romo was still an active NFL player, and the game didn’t even happen stateside. . .Nantz and Phil Simms called the Vikings 34-27 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Wembley Stadium in London.

Not only that, but in the last six Vikings games that Nantz has called, the Vikings have been outscored by a total tally of 171-69. Some of the games he’s been in the booth for include the “Josh Allen jumps over Anthony Barr” game against the Buffalo Bills in 2018, where the Vikings were a 17-point favorite at home and lost by three scores, and a pair of losses last season, including the 40-3 thrashing they took from the Dallas Cowboys at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Granted, Nantz hasn’t gotten a lot of opportunities to call Vikings games over the years, with the NFC being primarily on FOX and CBS handling the bulk of AFC games, but when he has been in the presence of the Vikings things have been bad. Here’s hoping that’s a trend that can be reversed on Sunday afternoon.