Playoffs? Some Vikings Fans Say No Thanks.
Dustin Baker
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An unusually large faction of Minnesota Vikings fandom is ready to be done.
The club has a puncher’s chance at the postseason if four NFL items happen this weekend, which would enable Minnesota to jaunt into the tournament as a seventh seed. But it’s a longshot.
Playoffs? Some Vikings Fans Say No Thanks.
And for about one-third of Vikings faithful, it’s, “Why bother?”
We polled the Vikings fanbase on the X app this week, formerly known as Twitter, and 34% do not want the purple team in the playoffs and, in fact, would be mad if it slips in through the backdoor.
The poll was unscientific, and 1,949 people responded.
Of course, 66.1% still want the Vikings to wiggle into the dance under the pretense that “anything can happen” in the postseason, although Minnesota, as a seventh seed, conducting any real damage seems unlikely. Most “just lose” folks want the club to improve its draft position, which will be determined late Sunday night when Week 18 caps.
The Vikings playoff probability once hovered around 80%, simpler times when the club was 6-4 during Joshua Dobbs Mania. But the team fired up a 1-5 record since defeating the New Orleans Saints and now owns a measly 3% chance to reach the playoff afterparty.
Here’s the Vikings’ only playoff scenario, a total Hail Mary:
- MIN over DET -and-
- CHI over GB -and-
- ARI over SEA -and-
- CAR over TB -or- ATL over NO
The path is terribly unlikely but also not utterly impossible. The hardest part — arguably — is the Vikings chipping off the Lions, a team claiming it won’t rest any starters in Week 18. That evidently isn’t the Dan Campbell way.
KQ98’s Tony Schultz replied to the poll, “Mad? No. Annoyed? Yes. When the draft comes and we could have had a better pick to move up or down with I would be pointing it out.”
Vikings fan Dave Pederson added, “I wouldn’t be mad but frustrated instead. As a fan I always want to see them win but they don’t have the depth remaining on the roster to make a run. They need all the draft capital they can get. Hopefully Kwesi is the right man for the job.”
If the Vikings lose at Detroit, they’ll pick anywhere from 9th to 12th in April, prime territory for the quarterback of the future. A win over the Lions would dip the pick somewhere between 12th and 32nd. Realistically, if the Vikings win, the pick would check in around 14th, 15th, or 16th.
The Vikings named no starting quarterback at the time of this article’s publication, and they are favored to lose by three points to close out the season.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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