Vikings Squander Golden Opportunity
On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings had an opportunity to announce to the world that the Green Bay Packers run of success in the NFC North was over and that Minnesota now owns this division. Instead, they did the opposite, allowing Green Bay to stay alive in the playoff hunt.
Yes, Minnesota has won the NFC North, and yes, Minnesota will finish, at worst, three games above the Packers. But a win on Sunday would have ushered in an era of dominance. It would have driven home the message that the Kevin O’Connell-coached Vikings are in charge now. But that simply didn’t happen. Not only did Minnesota lose, they embarrassed themselves.
Vikings Squander Golden Opportunity
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It was clear from the get-go on Sunday that this was a game between two teams with entirely different mentalities. Green Bay was playing for their lives, while Minnesota seemed like they couldn’t care less if they won or lost.
Add onto that a litany of mental errors, injuries, and a football that kept bouncing the Packers way, and you get one of the more embarrassing Vikings-Packers results in recent memory.
Vikings Lose Chance at Bye, Fall to #3 Seed
Any narrative that starts with how the Vikings didn’t have anything to play for is already wrong. Philadelphia lost early in the day, opening the door for Minnesota to grab the #1 seed and a crucial playoff bye. Well, as quickly as that door opened, Minnesota shut it, locked it, and threw away the key.
But while the #1 seed may have been a pipe dream, the #2 seed was in Minnesota’s hands, with Minnesota only needing to stay a step ahead of the San Francisco 49ers. Well, that opportunity is slipping away as well, as Minnesota’s beatdown at the hands of Green Bay, combined with San Francisco’s overtime win in Los Vegas, moves Minnesota down into the #3 seed.
At this point, San Francisco needs only to win a home game against a depleted Arizona Cardinals team, and Minnesota will be locked into the #3 seed and another clash with the New York Giants.
Minnesota Loses Chance to Usher in an Era of Dominance
Minnesota beat Green Bay 23-7 to start the season and then proceeded to win 11 of their next 14 games en route to a 12-3 record. Green Bay, on the other hand, struggled out of the gate after that early loss, going 4-8 to start the season before finally righting the ship and winning three straight. Green Bay had everything to play for, while Minnesota was only jockeying for seeding.
So just imagine how demoralizing it would have been for the Green Bay Packers if Minnesota walked into their house and ended their season. Imagine the talk all offseason in Green Bay, how their plans would change going forward, what their morale would be like.
But that didn’t happen, not even close.
Instead, Minnesota gifted Green Bay an excellent opportunity to win in Detroit and enter the playoffs on a five-game winning streak. But even if they lose to Detroit or in the first round of the playoffs to San Francisco, they can still keep their heads high this offseason, knowing that they absolutely annihilated the NFC North division winners — especially since all of the advanced stats and models paint a picture of Minnesota as a far worse team than their record, something Packers fans and media personalities have not been shy about pointing out.
Minnesota lost a golden opportunity to not just walk into Lambeau and end Green Bay’s season -– oh, how sweet that would have been. But they lost a chance to notch a victory that would have sent a message that this is Minnesota’s division now, that the Packers reign with Rodgers is over.
Maybe they’ll send that message next season. Perhaps they won’t. But this was a huge chance for Minnesota to crush the morale of their biggest rival, and instead, they fell flat on their face.
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