In the midst of thinking about all of the SUCCESS being experienced lately by Minnesota teams but also deciding not to specifically write about it for fear of being labeled a jinx, an interesting bit of data came to my attention.
FiveThirtyEight.com does team strength ratings for the NFL and NBA. It probably shouldn't surprise you to know that both the Vikings (7-2, leading the NFC North) and Timberwolves (9-5, third-best record in the Western Conference) are doing well in both.
What was a little surprising is this: The Wolves are the No. 6-ranked team in their NBA standings, with a projected record of 50-32 and a 90 percent chance of making the playoffs based on what they've done so far and a simulation of the more than five-sixths of their season still to come.
The Vikings are the No. 8-ranked team in their NFL standings, projected to win 10.9 (let's call it 11) games with a 77 percent chance of making the playoffs.
So yes, the Wolves right now have a better chance at making the postseason in this metric than the Vikings do.
Granted, the Vikings have some difficult games remaining on their schedule and it is tougher in general to make the postseason in the NFL (6 of 16 teams per conference) than the NBA (8 of 15).
It should be noted, too, that while the Wolves are given just a 2 percent chance of winning the NBA title — owing largely to the looming presence of Golden State — the Vikings have a 7 percent chance to win the Super Bowl.
You can now carry on with all of the terrible things happening in 2017 juxtaposed with the relative success of local sports teams.
