TFD: The Texans could still make the playoffs; heck, so could the Vikings

Chris Burke from SI.com takes us through a convoluted yet still possible set of hypotheticals in which the Houston Texans -- who have tumbled to the NFL's worst record at 2-10 this season -- could still make the playoffs in 2013.

How is it possible? Well, it involves Houston winning its final four games, Baltimore and Miami losing their final four games and a host of other teams losing two or three games. Houston would then claim a strange and complicated tiebreaker for a wild card spot.

Far-fetched, but technically not impossible.

It made us wonder: Is it still mathematically possible for the Vikings to win the NFC North?

Well, yes it is ... technically.

What has to happen? The Vikings need to win their final four games.

The Lions need to lose their final four games.

The Packers and Bears each need to go 1-3 (they play each other in the finale as well, so whichever team wins that game has to lose the rest of them).

If all that happened, the Vikings would finish 7-8-1, the Lions and Bears would be 7-9 and the Packers would be 6-9-1.