As someone who has watched the Vikings for more than two decades, we know it's never too soon to start thinking about (fretting about) scenarios. As such, here are a few things we've been considering:
*If the playoffs started today, the NFC seeding would go like this: 1) Saints 2) Vikings 3) Eagles 4) Cardinals 5) Packers 6) Giants Cowboys. That would set up matchups in the first round like this: Giants Cowboys at Eagles; Packers at Cardinals; byes for the Saints and Vikings. It would mean that the likeliest opponent in the Vikings' first playoff game would be the same as last year: Philly at the Dome. While there are obvious differences in both teams since last year's defeat, the Eagles are dangerous. That game would be a battle. That said, there is a part of us that would prefer that matchup to a third duel with the Green and Gold. As we've stated earlier, we know the Vikings are the better of the two teams. But weird things can happen in the playoffs, the Packers are better now than they were earlier this year, game-planning to beat a team three times in the same season can be tough, and short of some sort of heartbreaking loss in the NFC title game or Super Bowl, we can't think of anything that would bring this dream season to a screeching halt faster than a playoff loss to the Packers. Fortunately, the only way the Vikings would see Green Bay in the division round -- if everything played out according to current seed -- is if both wild card teams (Green Bay and New York Dallas) score road upsets in the opening round. If GB and the Eagles won, the Packers would go to New Orleans as the lowest remaining seed. And that might be a very interesting game -- especially if it had the potential to set up a Green Bay/Minnesota game at the Dome in the NFC title game. We say "interesting" because we think our heart would literally explode if that happened.
(Deep breath)
*At this point, after two nailbiting victories for the Saints in the past two weeks, we've pretty much conceded the No. 1 overall seed to them. But with Arizona having lost last night, we can now turn our attention to fixating on the Eagles and the possibility that they could steal the No. 2 seed and the Vikings' bye. As dangerous as Arizona was because of its advantage in the head-to-head tiebreaker, the Eagles are just as troubling in the tiebreaker scheme of things. As noted in great detail at another point, the second tiebreaker (since the Vikings and Eagles didn't play each other this year) is conference record. The Vikings are a robust 8-1 in the NFC right now, 11-2 overall. But the pesky 9-4 Eagles are 8-2 in the conference, having taken two of their four losses to AFC teams (San Diego and, improbably, Oakland). Let's say the Eagles win out against San Fran (home), Denver (home) and Dallas (away). Those are three reasonably good teams, but let's just play devil's advocate. Philly would end up 12-4 overall with a 10-2 conference record. If they finished tied with the Vikings, that would mean Minnesota had dropped two of its final three games (@Carolina, @Chicago, New York Giants), and since all three are conference games that would mean the Vikings would be 9-3 in the conference. Hence, Philly has the tiebreaker. Now: if the Vikings are the kind of team we think they are, and they have a legitimate chance to make a deep playoff run, they should win two of their next three games, all of which are against somewhat dangerous but inferior teams. And even with a couple stumbles, it's certainly possible (even likely?) that the Eagles will drop one of their final three games and still allow Minnesota to claim the second bye. That, however, will not stop us from worrying about it until the No. 2 seed, the bye and a guaranteed home game to get to the NFC title game are locked up. It could happen as early as next week. That would be delightful. It could drag out into the final weekend of the season. That would not be delightful.
(Another deep breath)
*Because we're superstitious and we grab onto things we probably shouldn't, we have a feeling that if this is really Minnesota's year (and we think it is), something extraordinary is going to have to happen to make it so. The Red Sox had to come back from down 3-0 in the series and one run in the ninth against one of baseball's best closers against a team that had caused them countless miserable moments in order to reverse their curse. The Vikings -- led by a the QB who was their nemesis on the rival team for 16 years -- could either have to 1) defeat the Packers for a third time in the playoffs 2) defeat an undefeated Saints team or 3) defeat an undefeated Indianapolis team in order to win their first Super Bowl. And they might have to do two or even all three of those things. Is everyone properly prepared for that?
*Updated to include CORRECT No. 6 seed. What were we thinking? Not sure.
