Which type of Vikings fan are you?

As the Vikings stacked up enough wins to earn a 13-3 record and the No. 2 seed in the NFC this season (and the bye that comes with it), while the Eagles struggled after the injury to standout QB Carson Wentz, it seemed that two groups of Vikings fans emerged.

One group is confident the Vikings are the team in the NFC most likely and best positioned to reach the Super Bowl.

Another group is watching with their hands over their eyes, worried that for as well as things have gone so far, a season-ending loss playoff loss before the Super Bowl is right around the corner.

Given the franchise's postseason history, there might be more people in the latter group than the former. But there are certainly people in both groups.

And here's the thing: The problem is that both groups are right, and you don't have to believe in curses — or the breaking of curses — to come to that conclusion. You just have to understand math as well as the unfortunate way a lot of our brains work.

Let's say you're part of the confident group that thinks the Vikings are the team to beat in the NFC. I think you're right, by the way — I like the Vikings' chances of making it to the Super Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium more than I like the chances of any other NFC team.

In the case of the Vikings, though, plenty of members of the confident group erroneously translate "most likely" into being "a better chance than not." And once you've gone there, your mind can start playing all sorts of tricks.

If the Vikings do have the best shot of reaching the Super Bowl from the NFC, it is by a rather narrow margin. And that narrow margin is over five other teams, not one.

Let's say you think the Vikings have a 65 percent chance of winning their first playoff game at home and a 55 percent chance of winning the NFC title game (given that it could be at Philly or against Team X at U.S. Bank Stadium).

That means they have about a 36 percent chance of winning both games and going to the Super Bowl. (FiveThirtyEight.com gives the Vikings a 33 percent chance of reaching the Super Bowl, by the way, while Football Outsiders says 30 percent).

Let's then give the Eagles a 30 percent chance (given that even with backup Nick Foles struggling lately they only have to win two games, just like the Vikings, and both would be at home), maybe the Rams and Saints each a 12 percent chance (given their relative strength during the regular season and the fact they get to host in the first round) and the Falcons and Panthers each a 5 percent chance.

We can quibble about how the other five teams should be divvied up, but in no scenario would a rational person give the Vikings better than a 50 percent chance of reaching the NFC title game at the outset of the playoffs as compared to the rest of the field combined. Yet that's what our minds like to believe when we think of the Vikings as the team to beat.

And that's how a person who thinks the Vikings are the team to beat and a person who's convinced the Vikings probably are going to lose are both right.

If the Vikings do make it to the Super Bowl and even win the whole thing, they won't necessarily have beaten the curse — just the odds.

If they lose before the Super Bowl, it won't be because of a curse — rather, it will be a matter of probability.