Playoff Update: 5 Most Likely Outcomes of the Vikings’ Season
The Minnesota Vikings, with a 14-3 record, will begin their postseason adventures on Monday night when they face the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.
Playoff Update: 5 Most Likely Outcomes of the Vikings’ Season
Minnesota dropped a pivotal game on Sunday evening, courtesy of a woeful showing from quarterback Sam Darnold, a man who will hope to bounce back this week in the postseason.
And with the playoffs around the bend, fans wonder how this special season will end. Well, these are the five likeliest outcomes, ranked in ascending order (No. 1 = most likely)
5. Win the Super Bowl
There’s a chance this is it.
It’s a remote chance, but it’s real until it’s not. Minnesota could win the Super Bowl in the “Sam Darnold season” against all odds when nobody expected it. In fact, that sounds pretty Vikings-like.
The odds don’t favor it — the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs are supposed to reach the Super Bowl — but the Vikings have a puncher’s chance.
After losing at Detroit a few days ago, the probability dipped because the Vikings will probably have to be road warriors for the next three weeks.
4. Lose in the Super Bowl
Here, Minnesota will claw all the way to February, match up against an AFC club, and sadly lose its fifth Super Bowl.
While this option would be disappointing, most folks under the age of 53 or so cannot remember or haven’t seen Minnesota in the Super Bowl. They last reached the big game during the 1976 season. 48 years.
In all likelihood, Minnesota would square off against Kansas City, Buffalo, or Baltimore.
3. Lose in the NFC Championship
The Vikings would knock off the Rams, foremost. Then, a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or Washington Commanders would be next.
Minnesota would likely fall to the Eagles or Lions on Conference Championship weekend.
Fans would be sad the day-of but would quickly realize the season was a pleasant surprise, generally speaking.
2. A Playoff One-and-Done
The most heartbreaking option, Minnesota’s 14-3 record would be all for nil. Two years ago, Kevin O’Connell and Co. won 13 games and immediately lost at home to a New York Giants team that wasn’t very good.
With this situation, Minnesota would lose on Monday night, and that would be that. A true one-and-done.
1. Win One Playoff Game, Lose in Divisional Round
Based on Minnesota’s performance to date, statistically and to the eye test, winning a playoff game and then falling at the feet of the mighty Eagles or Lions seems like the most likely outcome.
The Vikings are balanced and productive enough to defeat the Rams, but the Eagles and Lions are different monsters.
Losing in the Divisional Round feels like the likeliest outcome, with the playoffs four days away. But stranger things have happened than a 14-3 team getting further.
This one really has Eagles written all over it.
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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 Vikings 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.
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