Lady Lagerhta, a member of the vWo, at a Minnesota Vikings game at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Minnesota Vikings are among the league’s Top 6 Super Bowl odds, with a +1700 moneyline through 14 weeks, the same Super Bowl math as the Green Bay Packers.
That’s the perk of an 11-2 start. Minnesota has won six straight after a two-game, post-bye losing skid and is absolutely back on track.
And with the regular season winding down, many Vikings fans have wondered if the purple team has the oomph to reach The Promised Land and finally win a Super Bowl. These are the four paths for that scenario, ranked in ascending order of likelihood (No. 1 = most likely scenario if it happens at all).
Generally speaking, the Vikings probably won’t catch the Detroit Lions for control of the NFC North.
But what if they did?
Sports are unpredictable, and while the Lions are straight cruising through the regular season, Detroit could falter this weekend against the Buffalo Bills, setting up a winner-take-all contest in Week 18 at Detroit if the Vikings win their next three games.
Then, if Minnesota toppled the Lions at Ford Field, it would host every playoff game at U.S. Bank Stadium, assuming the Vikings won the tiebreaker over the Eagles if they finished the season unbeaten.
U.S. Bank Stadium has served as a fortress of top-notch homefield advantage this season, so perhaps Kevin O’Connell’s team could play every postseason game with home cookin’.
Defensive coordinator Brian Flores has his unit atop the NFL per defensive DVOA. The group has demonstrated some shakiness amid the last few games but always finds a way to put a lid on the opponent with an opportune turnover.
Minnesota has the roster talent to lock in, dominate teams, and continue its upper-echelon defensive pace at any time. Flores’ group doesn’t draw any parallels right now to the 1985 Chicago Bears, but there’s a teensy chance that Flores’ unit gets hot(ter) at the right time — between now and early February.
If one assumes that O’Connell’s offense performs decently — not at an elite level — in the postseason, the defense must be absolutely stifling.
Conversely, let’s pretend that Flores’ defense continues its recent modus operandi — pretty damn impressive but nothing otherworldly heatseeking.
In that case, the Week 14 Sam Darnold — the version that threw 5 touchdowns and no interception — could continue the breakneck pace. This would be one the most fascinating NFL stories of all time, a man cast away from the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers to find his footing in Minnesota to the tune of a Super Bowl run.
Darnold has all the physical tools to replicate his performance against the Falcons last weekend. Nobody doubts it. It’s just that he must do it consistently for the next two months.
Onlookers would basically hope that Darnold turned into the guy pictured below from the 2012 playoffs.
Or — the Vikings can “do both.”
The 2012 Ravens possessed a 9-5 record at this point of the calendar, and before too long, all facets of the operation decided it was time to go win the chip.
And that’s what they did.
Ray Lewis and friends turned on the jets, Flacco played almost flawlessly in January and February, and the special teams did their part, too.
No team has truly emulated this “underdog” path since, but why not the other purple team now?
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His MIN obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.