Positive for the purple!
With tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup not set to have any affect on it (since it’s an all-AFC matchup), it’s time to take a look at the updated playoff picture in the NFC. As it stands right now, our Minnesota Vikings are in an outstanding spot with six games remaining in the regular season, so let’s take a look at how everything has shaken out so far, with current odds supplied to us by our friends from FanDuel.
#1 seed – Detroit Lions (10-1, 1st place NFC North, -600 to win division, +310 to win Super Bowl)
With their victory over Indianapolis on Sunday, the Lions are now the betting favorite to win the Super Bowl, a prospect that’s. . .well, nauseating at best. They’ve been running through teams with no issues over the past few weeks and are tied for the best record in the league with Kansas City, but we as Vikings fans know that it’s not over until it’s over. There’s a good chance that Week 18 game in Detroit will still have plenty of meaning.
Week 13 opponent: vs Chicago (Thursday early)
#2 seed – Philadelphia Eagles (9-2, 1st place NFC East, -550 to win division, +750 to win Super Bowl)
Thanks to Sunday’s results, the Eagles now have what amounts to a three-game lead over Washington thanks to head-to-head tiebreakers. With the NFC West and NFC South winners fading a bit, the Eagles are in a position to potentially host two playoff games and the list of teams that could potentially stop them is pretty short.
Week 13 opponent: at Baltimore (Sunday late)
#3 seed – Seattle Seahawks (6-5, 1st place NFC West, +450 to win division, +5000 to win Super Bowl)
You’re reading that correctly. . .thanks to their victory over Arizona on Sunday, the Seahawks have jumped from outside of the playoff picture all the way to the #3 seed in the conference. Of course, this could change at pretty much any time given the state of the NFC West at the moment (every team in the division is either 6-5 or 5-6 through 11 games), but for now there would be a first-round playoff game in Seattle if the season ended today.
Week 13 opponent: at New York Jets (Sunday early)
#4 seed – Atlanta Falcons (6-5, 1st place NFC South, -320 to win division, +3800 to win Super Bowl)
The Falcons took the week off in Week 12 but managed to maintain their perch atop the NFC South. They still have, essentially, a two-game lead over Tampa Bay because of their head-to-head sweep, so they’re still a pretty heavy favorite to win the division, but their defense is going to have to get themselves going in the right direction if they want to avoid a collapse.
Week 13 opponent: vs Los Angeles Chargers (Sunday early)
#5 seed – Minnesota Vikings (9-2, 2nd place NFC North, +700 to win division, +2100 to win Super Bowl)
The Vikings continue to make things more difficult on themselves than they need to be, but they keep winning football games and keep putting the pressure on Detroit in the division. They swept a three-game road trip and now get to return to U.S. Bank Stadium for three in a row before finishing with two of three on the road. It would be nice if the Vikings could win games more convincingly, sure, but wins are wins however you come across them.
Week 13 opponent: vs Arizona (Sunday early)
#6 seed – Green Bay Packers (8-3, 3rd place NFC North, +1600 to win division, +1400 to win Super Bowl)
The Packers got to play the San Francisco B-squad on Sunday and won convincingly, as they should have. I mean, not every team can beat the Niners at full strength, am I right? The Packers are attempting to keep pace with the Vikings but still have the disadvantage when it comes to head-to-head record, so they’ll need a Viking stumble to get past them. Will it happen? Hopefully not.
Week 13 opponent: vs Miami (Thursday night)
#7 seed – Washington Commanders (7-5, 2nd place NFC East, +450 to win division, +5000 to win Super Bowl)
The Commanders had a second consecutive stumble on Sunday, falling to a Dallas team that had been in disarray before Sunday. Jayden Daniels continues to look less dynamic than he did before he suffered his rib injury, and now they have teams right in their rear-view mirror in the Wild Card chase. They’d better hope that Daniels can get himself right in a hurry.
Week 13 opponent: vs Tennessee (Sunday early)
Outside Looking In
#8 seed – Arizona Cardinals (6-5, 2nd place NFC West)
#9 seed – Los Angeles Rams (5-6, 3rd place NFC West)
#10 seed – San Francisco 49ers (5-6, 4th place NFC West)
#11 seed – Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-6, 2nd place NFC South)
#12 seed – New Orleans Saints (4-7, 3rd place NFC South)
#13 seed – Chicago Bears (4-7, 4th place NFC South)
#14 seed – Dallas Cowboys (4-7, 3rd place NFC East)
#15 seed – Carolina Panthers (3-8, 4th place NFC South)
#16 seed – New York Giants (2-9, 4th place NFC South)
There you have it, folks. Hopefully the Vikings can keep the winning going and not fall out of the position they’ve put themselves in with six weeks left in the season.
