Vikings Fans Will Be Put in an Awkward Spot This Month
Josh Frey
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The Minnesota Vikings extended their lead in the NFC North on Sunday to a staggering 4.5 games. It’s the largest division lead any team has had this early in the season since the 49ers led the NFC West by five games after Week 9 in 2011. Because of this lead, and their placement in the NFC standings, Vikings fans will be put in an awkward spot multiple times over the course of November.
Obviously, the Vikings head to Buffalo and taken on the Bills. Presumably, Josh Allen will start at QB, though that is not a certainty at this time. The Vikings have opened as heavy underdogs in that game, and regardless of how well they have played to this point, the most likely outcome is the Bills winning at home.
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The following two weeks after that, the Vikings have matchups against the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. There’s an equally good chance that they’ll be underdogs against Dallas, and with the recent success of the Patriots, they can’t be taken lightly, either. The rest of November is going to be where we truly find out how legitimate the Vikings are.
With that in mind, let’s talk about a few games going on within the rest of the NFC. Particularly, a couple matchups featuring the hated Green Bay Packers.
If the Vikings are going to secure the top seed in the NFC, the NFC East is the division most likely to stand in the way. Three of the four teams (Dallas Cowboys, Philadelpha Eagles, New York Giants) have at least six wins through nine weeks.
The Packers play two of these teams over the course of the rest of the month. This weekend, they face off with the Cowboys, and then on Sunday, November 27th, they take on the Eagles. Given the aforementioned lead that the Vikings have in the NFC North, Minnesota should be able to lock that title up.
Because of this, Vikings fans may have to don their cheese heads for these games. Dallas and Philadelphia represent the biggest threat to the Vikings for that top seed in the NFC, and some help from the Packers in those games would go a long way in making sure Minnesota gets that bye in the first week of the playoffs.
It will certainly feel weird, but at least for a few weeks, let’s hope the Packers can get a couple wins. After that though, they can certainly go back to losing the rest of their games.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. He also earned minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his opinions, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.