Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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Vikings listed at No. 2 in CBS Sports Wild Card rankings
It’s crunch time, people.
The Vikings will travel to Los Angeles this weekend for their final road game of the year before returning home for back-to-back divisional matchups.
Patrik Walker of CBS Sports recently ranked NFC Wild Card chances “for teams still in the NFL playoff hunt.” He wrote:
The beauty of professional football is while there are seemingly always the usual suspects making noise in each conference, there’s also the chance one or two teams will barrel through low expectations to put everyone on notice. This season has been no different when it comes to the NFC, where the San Francisco 49ers went from a supposed rebuild to a powerhouse in short order and have created havoc atop the conference the entire season.
As they continue to exchange blows with the Seattle Seahawks for divisional supremacy and the New Orleans Saints to remain in the driver’s seat for home-field advantage, the Green Bay Packers would now like a word – having ascended to the No. 2 seat following the 49ers harrowing 48-46 victory over the Saints in Week 14. It’s an all-out brawl between those four teams, and the Minnesota Vikings aren’t far behind, currently in a Wild Card spot but within striking distance of every team above them.
Walker ranked the Seahawks at No. 1 in the Wild Card race, projecting them as the No. 5 seed, and the Vikings at No. 2 with a projection for the No. 6 seed.
The added question for Seattle (and the 49ers) is simple: whoever lands in the Wild Card, will they be the No. 5 or No. 6 seed? The Vikings have played so well this season they have a great chance to reach up and grab the lead in the NFC North and leave talk of a Wild Card berth behind altogether. … The loss [at Seattle] cost them a tiebreaker and put them 1.5 games back of the Packers – having also lost to Green Bay in Week 2 – and Minnesota now needs a collapse by Green Bay and a surge of [its] own to win the division. It’s now more likely they secure a [Wild Card] spot instead of the NFC North crown, and downing the Lions in Week 14 helps that cause.
Walker predicted that the Rams (8-5), Eagles (6-7) and Bears (7-6), ranked in that order, will miss the postseason cut.