Playoff Door Opens for Vikings Ahead of Sunday Night Football Showdown
Josh Frey
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The Minnesota Vikings came into Sunday hoping for some help to re-open a playoff door.
Well, that door has cracked open for Minnesota ahead of their Sunday Night Football showdown against the Green Bay Packers. This comes because of a loss from the Seattle Seahawks to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Playoff Door Opens for Vikings
Seattle fell to Pittsburgh by a score of 30-23 on Sunday afternoon, and with that loss, the Seahawks now have a record of 8-8 heading into the final week of the season.
The loss largely came because of a costly second half turnover from Geno Smith. Following a Pittsburgh field goal to extend their lead to 27-20, Smith was sacked by linebacker Nick Herbig and coughed up the ball. The rookie linebacker recovered the fumble and set Pittsburgh up with an opportunity to extend their lead.
While the Steelers offense was unable to punch the ball into the end zone, they did manage to secure another field goal, giving them a double-digit lead with under five minutes remaining in the game.
If the Vikings are able to take care of business on Sunday night, they would suddenly vault back into the No. 7 seed in the NFC with their own 8-8 record.
This is because Minnesota will hold an in-conference tiebreaker over both the New Orleans Saints (who also improved to 8-8 on Sunday) and Seattle. If they defeat the Packers, the Vikings will be 7-4 against NFC opponents this year. New Orleans currently sits with a 5-6 record in such games, and Seattle is 6-5.
Despite all the twists, turns, ups and downs this season for the Vikings, their year is far from over. Their mission is simple: win their final two games, and they are in the dance. We’ll see if rookie QB Jaren Hall can play his part and help lead Minnesota to those wins.
If the Vikings do ultimately land in that No. 7 seed, they would currently be slated for a road playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys during the Wild Card round.
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Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.
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