Dec 1, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison (3) warms up before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images.
After a stinky loss in Week 18 at Ford Field, the Minnesota Vikings are immediately back in action this week — in the playoffs, no less — against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.
Minnesota still has a puncher’s chance to get hot in the postseason and accomplish the almighty, Holy Grail goal of winning the Super Bowl.
It won’t be easy, but here’s the most favorable path for the Vikings to reach the Promised Land — the dream scenario.
The dreaded ordeal for purple fans: cheering for the Green Bay Packers.
If you, the Vikings fan, want Minnesota to have playoff games at U.S. Bank Stadium, it’s best for Green Bay to topple the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday. That’s all there is to it.
Doing so would bump off the Eagles and create a valve for Minnesota to host playoff games in the Twin Cities.
With a Packers dub and a Commanders win, Minnesota would earn a Divisional Round matchup at home versus Washington, a club led by a rookie quarterback, Jayden Daniels.
Minnesota would be favored in this game by at least four points.
No caption needed. Minnesota, obviously, must beat the Rams on Monday Night Football for this article to mean anything.
Kevin O’Connell would oust his former employer from the postseason three years removed from the organization.
Once again, an awkward turn of events, Vikings fans would root for the Packers at Ford Field solely because homefield advantage would return to U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Packers would’ve gotten hot in the scenario, while the Lions became the woeful one-and-done in the playoffs.
Fresh of the steam of a road postseason win at Los Angeles, the purple team returns home for an unforeseen playoff game and chips off the Commanders, a team that would’ve already overachieved by reaching Round 2 of the tournament.
And because Detroit is out of the way, the next one is for all the marbles.
It won’t be easy to defeat the Packers thrice in the same season, but this hypothetical NFC Championship would instantly become the most critical Vikings-Packers meeting in series history.
With a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, it’d be the cheese team against Minnesota at U.S. Bank Stadium for NFC glory.
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.