After losing to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 14, let’s check out the updated NFC Playoff Picture and NFC Wild Card standings.
As the NFL schedule approaches mid-December and the end of the regular season, teams discover that their success is nothing more than a house of cards.
Nothing proved more than the sheer absurdity of what we saw in the NFC on Sunday, as the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings were embarrassed in games their true contenders shouldn’t be facing.
Minnesota entered Week 14 away from winning the NFC North title but was an underdog on the road in Detroit. It turns out that Vegas was right, as the Vikings were completely embarrassed in a huge loss to the Lions. The end result makes it look much closer than it was, and the point remains that a team in position in Minnesota shouldn’t have problems like they did in Week 14.
The Lions sneak into the wild card with a huge win over the Vikings. After a slow start to the season, Detroit is sitting at 6-7 and just two games short of the No. 7 seed in the NFC Wild Card standings. There’s a lot that needs to happen, including a collapse by the Seahawks and a few other teams to close out the season, but the fact that the Lions are in this situation is a victory in itself.
As for the Vikings, nothing calls into question their legitimacy as a true contender more than the way things played out on Sunday. Kirk Cousins again won the Box Score but lost the actual game, missing passes in key situations and putting the Vikings on the ropes in a way a talented quarterback might not have.
Minnesota is still in control of its own destiny and will definitely win the NFC North. But it’s hard to remember a time when a team with the Minnesota record, season-ending accolades would go into the playoffs with little faith.
Here’s how the chaos of the NFL game is affecting the picture as it begins to build and lock into place.
[ad_2]
