A tie might have been the worst possible outcome for the Vikings on Sunday if you want to look at it like this: they didn't get the satisfaction of beating the Packers, but they still damaged their prospects of landing the No. 1 overall pick in the draft -- "falling" half a game ahead of the three-team sandwich at 2-9 and leaving themselves in the No. 4 spot.

While that was perfectly Vikings-esque, maybe -- just maybe -- that will end up being a blessing in disguise. We're guessing that at least two teams will finish with worse records than Minnesota (even though the Vikings are perfectly capable of losing the rest of their games, we imagine they have one, maybe two victories left in them). It will leave them just out of range of the consensus top QBs in the draft Marcus Mariota and Teddy Bridgewater.

Good. We don't want those guys.

We want Johnny Manziel, the Brett Favre clone.

We want his swagger, we want his big arm and we want his playmaking ability. We want him to inject life into this listless group. We want an instant jolt of adrenaline.

Manziel had his worst game of the season Saturday. No matter. He's still equipped to be the long-term answer. Maybe the Vikings, by virtue of that tie, will have no choice but to take him.