The Vikings are in unprecedented territory: amidst one of the best seasons in team history, they are currently stuck behind the Lions as the 5th seed in the NFC playoff race.
Only once in team history — back in 1988 — have the Vikings been relegated to a wild card spot with more than ten wins. Twice, the Vikings made the playoffs with eight wins, most recently in 2004. Never in NFL history has a wild card team ended a regular season with more than 13 wins.
After chasing the Lions for much of the season, the Vikings are finally in a position where they control their own destiny: if they win out, they will secure the NFC North and the one seed.
Unfortunately, Minnesota faces a daunting schedule: they must travel to Seattle and Detroit and play the Packers at home — three extremely challenging games against playoff contenders. Meanwhile, the Lions face easier opponents in the hapless Bears and the disappointing 49ers. Plus, even if the Vikings can catch the Lions, they could still fall short of the Eagles for the top seed.
With the current playoff format, if the Vikings do end with the fifth seed — even if they have 14 wins — they would be forced to play a wild card game on the road. If the season ended today, they would be traveling to LA to play the Rams, who are 8-6 but have already beaten the Vikings once in LA.
In short, there is a good chance that the Vikings could get hosed if they aren’t able to win out against a very tough schedule.
It would come as little comfort to us fans, but a road loss in the wild-card round could precipitate a rule change in future years.
Roger Goodell has balked at the idea of eliminating divisions altogether and simply ranking teams by record within their conference, but a more modest change — letting the team with the better record host the wild card game — could gather steam if a top-tier team like the Lions or Vikings were to lose in the first round this year.
The good news is the Vikings can avoid this scenario by winning the rest of their regular season games. And although a road wild-card matchup against the Rams might not be ideal, it should be noted that the Vikings’ last loss came on a short week after a brutal game against the Lions.
Most importantly, the Vikes have the talent necessary to make a deep playoff run, whether as home favorites or road warriors.
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