The Vikings Would Be a Playoff Team if the Season Ended Today
To put it lightly, the Minnesota Vikings have not made things easy for themselves this season. Missed kicks, penalties, and inconsistent play have led the purple and gold to a 3-3 record after six weeks. Some fans think that this team should be nowhere near the playoffs, and yet, the opposite is true. If the season ended today, their .500 record would be good enough to make the playoffs as the seventh seed.
Current NFC Playoff Picture
#1 Seed: Arizona Cardinals (6-0)
#2 Seed: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-1) vs. #7 Seed: Minnesota Vikings (3-3)
#3 Seed: Green Bay Packers (5-1) vs. #6 Seed: New Orleans Saints (3-2)
#4 Seed: Dallas Cowboys (5-1) vs. #5 Seed: Los Angeles Rams (5-1)
If the playoffs began today, the Vikings would travel south and face the defending Super Bowl champions on the road in the Wild Card round. This matchup would allow Minnesota to try and get revenge on Tampa Bay after they knocked the Vikings out of playoff contention last season. That win against Minnesota kicked off a 13-1 stretch (including playoffs) for the Buccaneers. Quarterback Tom Brady is 6-0 against the Minnesota Vikings in his career and currently leads the NFL with 2,064 passing yards this season. This would be a tough matchup for the Vikings, especially if they were without cornerback Patrick Peterson.
The road to the Super Bowl starts tough and would only get tougher for the Vikings. As the #7 seed Minnesota would have to play – and win – three road games if they were to make it to their first Super Bowl since 1977. However, the Vikings played well on the road against the Cardinals earlier this season and would have won on the road if not for a missed field goal as time expired. The Vikings have to feel good about their performance against the NFC’s best and hope to build on that performance against other contenders.
Can Minnesota Remain In The Playoff Hunt?
Unfortunately, Minnesota’s schedule only gets tougher from here. The Vikings still have six games remaining against current playoff teams this season (vs. Dallas [Week 8], at Baltimore [Week 9], at L.A. Chargers [Week 10] vs. Green Bay [Week 11], vs. L.A. Rams [Week 16], and at Green Bay [Week 17]). However, both the Packers and the Chicago Bears have more brutal remaining schedules than the Vikings do.
If Minnesota can go .500 in the six games listed above, they would have a great chance of making the playoffs either as a wild card team or winning the division. The Vikings currently have a 39% chance to make the postseason per FiveThirtyEight.
Bye Bye Zimmer?
Some fans and experts agree that this would be the only way that Mike Zimmer and Kirk Cousins would stay on the team after this season. This discussion was also happening two years ago, but a road playoff win against the 13-3 New Orleans Saints led the Vikings to eventually extend both Zimmer, Cousins, and general manager Rick Spielman. In my opinion, Zimmer would be the most likely to be fired if the Vikings could not win a playoff game this season.
After their bye week, the Minnesota Vikings will face one of the toughest four-game stretches in recent history (19-5 combined record). A .500 record over that stretch would put them in a great position to hold their spot in the playoffs. Anything less? It may be time for Zimmer to jump ship.