Vikings Could be a Playoff Team by Thanksgiving
Vikings Could be a Playoff Team by Thanksgiving
Less than two weeks ago, Minnesota Vikings fans were distraught over a 1-5 start to 2020 following an abominable loss to the Atlanta Falcons. It was Week 6, the bye week was afoot, and the Vikings pretended they were the New York Jets (and perhaps worse).
Then, two wins occurred – one that had no business finding its way to the Vikings win-loss column. Minnesota was traveling to Green Bay for an annual interstate slugfest, but this time, the two teams’ records were fully inverted. The Vikings were 1-5, the Packers were 5-1. Stunningly, Minnesota – on the back of Dalvin Cook – waylaid Green Bay en route to a 28-22 triumph. A win as a 5.5-point underdog acted as caffeine to an angry and tired Vikings fanbase.
Was it an outlier much like the team’s near-win at Seattle? That’s what we pondered last week at this time. Minnesota hosted Detroit in a fanless building, and walloped their rumps, too. Ergo, Mike Zimmer’s men sit at third place in the NFC North with a date in Chicago brewing.
The Vikings are amidst a resurrection. They were left for dead after the cretinous Falcons showing but are now undergoing a revival. The jerrybuilt defense is jelling, slowly but surely. Kirk Cousins has seemingly erased two woeful games from his hippocampus. The offensive line actually looks like a competent group. And Dalvin Cook is an Avenger.
If the Vikings win the next two games – at Chicago and versus Dallas – they could realistically be a playoff team by the time you eat turkey and stuffing on November 26th.
The Bears
For this plan to hatch, the Bears must simply be defeated by the Vikings on Monday night football. It would dock their record to 5-5 heading into a Week 11 bye. Minnesota would theoretically holster a 5-5 record (if two Vikings wins are on the agenda), and the tiebreaker metric would bleed purple.
This is the easy part – reading it on VikingsTerritory. Now, the Vikings must go physically ascertain the victory, which is not foreordained. The Bears have dominated the Vikings lately, winning four consecutive games. In fact, the only time that Kirk Cousins had toppled the Bears in his career was withWashington. However, if Cousins can careen the Monday monkey off his back, the playoffs-by-Thanksgiving utopia is intact.
The 49ers
San Francisco is the NFC’s No. 9 seed to this point in the 2020 season. The organization has endured an onslaught of injuries – almost to an unprecedented degree. At 4-5, the Super Bowl runner-ups from 2019 are backpedaling and extremely unlikely to visit the Super Bowl again this year. Call it a Super Bowl runner-up curse.
This week, the 49ers take on the Saints in New Orleans. Sean Payton’s team, despite a formidable schedule, is starting to hit on all cylinders at 6-2. Heck, they’re the top seed in the NFC.
Because San Francisco has a putrid conference record – two wins, four losses – they pose no threat to the Vikings Thanksgiving plan. Should they drop the game in New Orleans this weekend – which they probably will – the team will sink to 4-6 on the season with a 2-5 conference record. That is nearly doomsday for postseason seeding.
The Rams
Los Angeles is the pendulant part of the equation. Jared Goff’s team must lose two games in the next two weeks for the Vikings to virtually tie the seventh-seed by Thanksgiving. It would drop their 2020 record to 5-5 and a tiebreak scenario would adjudicate the beholder of the seventh-seed. Hypothetically speaking, both the Vikings and Rams would have three conference losses. So, the slight edge might swing in the direction of Los Angeles – but not by much.
The Rams will take on the Seahawks in California this week – never a fun assignment. After that, they depart for Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers on Monday Night Football in Week 11. This is not an easy menu for Sean McVay’s team. If they drop both contests, the Rams and Vikings would be locked in a virtual tie for the NFC’s No. 7 seed.
All the Vikings must do is win the next two ballgames and get some reasonable help from the Saints, Seahawks, and Buccaneers to be directly in the hunt for the NFL’s pandemic playoffs.
Who would’ve thunk thatjust two weeks ago?
