Why the Vikings Will Stay in Playoff Contention Deep into the Season

Vikings Say Goodbye to 7
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

I know, talking about the playoffs after Sunday night’s performance — hear me out — the Minnesota Vikings will be in playoff contention deep into the season.

I’m confident of that opinion, and it’s not due to my confidence in the team, which has been seriously tested so far this season. No, it has to do with the strength of the NFC. There are not seven good teams currently playing in the NFC. So, that seventh playoff spot will likely remain open deep into the season for a lot of teams.

I don’t expect the division winners and first two wildcard places to change much from now, with Green Bay and Dallas looking like they will win their divisions at a canter. Tampa Bay, New Orleans, the Los Angeles Rams, and Arizona look good for first and second in their divisions — depending on how the Saints deal with losing quarterback Jameis Winston for the season.

Outside of those teams, there is no clear candidate for the seventh seed, which is currently held by the Carolina Panthers with a 4-4 record, a team the Vikings have already beaten. Minnesota currently sits in eighth place atop three-win teams, including San Francisco, who the Vikings play in Week 12. Plus, there’s another team the Vikings have already beaten this season in Seattle, also divisional foe Chicago, who we still have to play twice. And then Atlanta and Philadelphia round out the three-win teams.

None of these teams have looked consistently good or playoff-caliber, but one of them will make the postseason.

For the Vikings, the next three games are tough — trips to Baltimore and Los Angeles to play the Chargers and a home game against Green Bay. They ideally need to win at least one of those games. Then, it’s a trip to San Francisco. A win there would give the Vikings the advantage of three wins against other teams likely to be in the seventh seed hunt. With head-to0head being the first port of call in a tie-breaker situation, that would be like an extra win.

I know, scraping into the playoffs should not be the aim for this team. However, I won’t be upset with meaningful football in January. The football season is short, and the offseason is long. Barely getting into the playoffs and losing on the wild card round should not be enough for Mike Zimmer to keep his job. Staying competitive until the end of the season will, however, keep him in employment into the new year.

I fully expect this team just to scrape in or just miss out on the playoffs. It would be too simple just to fade away now, so we could all just concentrate on the next chapter of the Minnesota Vikings. Cast your mind back one year. A 1-5 start and a defense that was in shambles. Yet, not until the Christmas Day hammering by the New Orleans Saints did playoff contention finally whimper away.

Can the coaching staff find the recipe for success with this roster? If they can get the offense firing, it can be a force to be reckoned with. So far, it has spent too much time stuttering and stalling. Meanwhile, a defense that has looked good in patches, but has a nasty habit of giving big chunk plays up, needs to find more consistency — now having to face the rest of the season without star edge rusher Danielle Hunter. The latest massive blow to the defense following the injuries to Michael Pierce and Patrick Peterson. The other two should at least see the field again this season.  

Despite two wins, the team hasn’t given much reason to be optimistic in the last four performances. To inspire any confidence, the team must put together a big performance somewhere. Until then, faith will remain low, but the playoffs aren’t going to disappear out of view with that seventh spot available.

The optimistic among us will cling to the faintest of hope, until the last.

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