Vikes sieze division, but not opportunity
When the Minnesota Vikings took the field Sunday night, their most immediate battle was already won for them; earlier in the day, the Pittburgh Steelers had defeated the Green Bay Packers, locking in the Vikings as the NFC North champions for the second consecutive year. Sing “Skol Vikings” one more time, right?
Not so fast; someone forgot to take out the purple’s travel insurance, because their trip to Charlotte was almost certainly a total loss.
You see, the Packers weren’t the only team to lose this weekend; on Saturday, the Dallas Cowboys handed the undefeated New Orleans Saints their first loss of the season; that put the Vikings a mere one game behind New Orleans in the race for the coveted number one seed, which delivers to the bearer home field advantage throughout the playoffs. That meant all the Vikes had to do was beat a 5-8 Carolina Panthers squad to draw within one game of that number one seed.
Oops. Everyone forgot about Julius Peppers, Mr. One Million A Game on defense for the Panthers. Carolina, almost certainly out of the playoff picture and just itching to play spoiler, did just that, handing the Vikings their worst loss of the three earned this season, a 26-7 smackdown produced primarily by Peppers and the rest of the Carolina defense.
That keeps Minnesota two games behind New Orleans and virtually sews up the number one seed for the Saints throughout the playoffs. To upset the apple cart, New Orleans would have to lose out, and the Vikings would have to win out. Neither scenario is necessarily all that likely.
At 11-3 with two games left, the Vikings must await a Monday Night game against Chicago next week – on the road – before finishing up in the Metrodome against a New York Giants squad that’s always dangerous and could be in the hunt for a playoff spot in the last week of the regular season. Neither will be cakewalk games as both teams are eager to play spoiler, just as the Saints did.
The real danger, though, is posed by the Philadelphia Eagles; with two games left, the Eagles are at 10-4, one game behind the Vikings. If Philadelphia wins both of its last two games, and the Vikings lose one more, they could tie at 12-4 and the Eagles could take the number two seed away from the Vikings, forcing Minnesota to play a game in the first round, rather than enjoy a bye week.
Uh-oh.
