Vikings officially move into 7th/final playoff spot after Cards loss [Updated NFC Playoff Picture]
Joe Johnson
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Vikings officially move into 7th-and-final NFC playoff seed
It wasn’t pretty but the Minnesota Vikings yet again overcame massive blunders to best an inferior opponent at home Sunday, beating the 1-11 Jacksonville Jaguars in overtime. That came after multiple turnovers, missed extra points (plural), and yet another defensive score by the opposing team.
With that win, the Vikings improved to .500 on the season and were rooting for the Los Angeles Rams to best the 7th-seed Arizona Cardinals to move into that 7th-spot. That would allow the Vikings to control their destiny through the final four games of the season.
Well, the Vikings actually got lucky as the Cardinals indeed fell to the Rams this afternoon. These are the updated NFC playoff standings as of the writing of this article.
The Vikings face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints in their final four. The Cardinals face the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, and Rams again to close out their season.
The Vikings will have to clean up their game in nearly every facet if they want to win out and make the playoffs with little drama, as their offense is good enough to overcome what they did against the Jags… and Panthers, but as we saw with the Cowboys sometimes that isn’t the case.
For now, though, Vikings fans can take a deep sigh of relief that the team is .500 and a playoff team if the season ended today, as it felt like the season HAD ended before the bye. Regardless of what happens, these Vikings deserve credit for that fact if nothing else.