Vikings Could Have Temporary Playoff Spot by Wednesday Morning
The Minnesota Vikings 2021 season has emulated a rollercoaster, and the next two days could entail even more twists and turns.
Minnesota squares off against an undermanned Chicago Bears team on Monday Night Football as the Vikings rival is missing several players and coaches due to COVID. The Vikings are favored by 6.5 points, a rather bold point spread for a Minnesota team that notoriously struggles at Soldier Field.
If the Vikings find a way to beat the Bears, their pathway to the postseason remains alive and well.
In fact, if the Vikings win in Chicago and the Philadelphia Eagles topple the Washington Football Team on Tuesday – Minnesota would inhabit the NFC’s seventh playoff seed by Wednesday morning. Whoodathunkit?
And at least temporarily, the Vikings would be slated to take on the Dallas Cowboys, the current #2 seed, on Wildcard Weekend. Ask any Vikings fan, and that squad is the most preferable for a playoff game among the Packers, Buccaneers, Cardinals, or even Rams.
But first, the Vikings actually have to win in Chicago to keep the “dream” alive. Minnesota ravaged its playoff probability when the loss to the Detroit Lions hit the schedule three weeks ago. Had the Vikings won that game, they’d be in the seventh-seed driver’s seat right now. Yet, this is the 2021 Vikings we’re talking about here – nothing is simple. Everything is down-to-the-wire, unpredictable anxiety.
What’s more, it’s not a no-brainer for the Eagles to dump the Football Team. Philadelphia’s young signal-caller is banged up, and he isn’t all that great when healthy. Put simply, Jalen Hurts is maturing and developing on the fly in his second NFL season, so some of his Sundays are stinky. And then in other games, he looks the part. It is unclear if stinky Hurts or decent Hurts will be on the field versus Ron Rivera’s Football Team.
Finally, when the New Orleans Saints shut out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football, the long game of Minnesota’s quest for the postseason became trickier. The Saints have a comparatively easy schedule (Dolphins, Panthers, Falcons) the rest of the way in 2021. If they win out, it doesn’t matter what the Vikings or anybody else do regarding the seventh seed. It would belong to New Orleans. In that regard, the Vikings must now keep a jaundiced eye on the Saints. No one expected Taysom Hill and Co. to defeat Tom Bray’s Buccaneers in Florida, but here we are.
That’s the blueprint for the Vikings in the short term. Take care of business in Chicago – it will take the exorcism of Soldier Field demons – cheer for the Eagles, and formulate a coherent gameplan for the Los Angeles Rams in Week 16. It would be disappointing for Minnesota to grab playoff seeding, coughing it away one week later at home.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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