Thanos would be proud of how the Minnesota Vikings’ season has played out so far. After six games, they have a 3-3 record, and most aspects of the team are perfectly balanced (as all things should be).
A balanced record usually isn’t good for a team’s chances to make the playoffs. During the NFL’s 12-team playoff model from 2002-19, only seven teams made the playoffs with a .500 record or worse. Four of those teams were automatic qualifiers as division champions.
With the Green Bay Packers sitting at 6-1, the best bet for the Vikings to make the playoffs is as a wild card team. While the NFL’s current 14-team playoff helped the Chicago Bears (8-8) make the playoffs last season, it’s still a challenging path to travel unless the NFC beats up on itself.
However, that’s precisely what’s happened through seven weeks.
The playoff race in the NFC has resembled a late-night bar fight through the first seven weeks. While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals have established themselves at the top, the other five playoff spots are up for grabs in a brawl that could let the Vikings sneak out the back.
Consider that the Los Angeles Rams are 6-1 but don’t look like a dominant team. Although they hold a win over the Buccaneers, they almost lost to the 0-7 Detroit Lions and are one Matthew Stafford injury away from watching their Super Bowl hopes dissipate.
The New Orleans Saints are next at 4-2 but don’t look like a lock to make the playoffs. With a quarterback that leaves things up to “God’s plan,” this isn’t the same team led by a future Hall of Famer.
The Atlanta Falcons (3-3) will blow a lead anytime, anywhere, and the Bears (3-4) are on the verge of a full-blown house cleaning. The Vikings already saw how bad the Carolina Panthers (3-4) are first-hand, and the Seattle Seahawks (2-5) saw their season go sideways at the exact moment that Russell Wilson’s middle finger did.
Unless the abysmal NFC East wakes up or Dan Campbell pulls off the most incredible comeback in the history of the National Football League, there’s a good chance the Vikings will be in the mix even if they don’t fix their shortcomings. A schedule that looked brutal just a month ago now has several contenders that are not who we thought they were.
The Dallas Cowboys will roll into U.S. Bank Stadium with a 5-1 record on Sunday, but they have feasted on bad teams.
The Baltimore Ravens have used an ouija board to summon the Pro Bowl spirits of Devonta Freeman and Le’Veon Bell. They were just stomped by a Cincinnati Bengals team the Vikings almost beat in Week 1.
A trip to play the Los Angeles Chargers should be accompanied by a large crowd of purple, and the San Francisco 49ers are 8-14 since Jimmy Garoppolo overthrew Emmanuel Sanders in the Super Bowl.
We haven’t even mentioned the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are competing with the Ravens to see who can play the guy that most resembles The Cryptkeeper. Their head coach denied rumors he’s going to USC by saying what anyone would say if they were in that situation.
Mix in four games against the Bears and Lions and a potential split with the Packers, and you have a team that could be in the range of nine wins.
The Vikings have plenty of work to do if they want to get there, and it starts with the offensive line. But if Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill continue not to allow sacks, it should make life easier for the interior.
The secondary also needs some help in the wake of the Patrick Peterson injury. But if Cameron Dantzler and Bashaud Breeland play as well as their Twitter game suggests, that too could be an overblown issue.
Even the late-game decisions of Mike Zimmer can be correctable, and the Vikings could march ahead to the same season that has plagued this franchise since 2017. While it may not be a model for a run to the Super Bowl, it’s at least a way to get into the post-season. If you’re the Vikings, you’ll take that any way you can get it given how the season started.
