Vikes Views: How Important is the 1 Seed?

The Detroit Lions are hosting the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football. I believe just about everyone knows by know, it’s for the #1 seed in the NFC and the loser is the 5 seed. It seems like the most important game, but each team’s next game will be more important. So, it has me thinking, how important is the 1 seed? Possibly more important, how important is it to avoid being a Wild Card and going on the road for 3 games?

Here are the seeds of the last 50 Super Bowl Winners:

1. 27 (54%)
2. 10 (20%)
3. 3 (6%)
4. 6 (12%)
5. 2 (4%)
6. 2 (4%)
7. 0 (0%)

Obviously the higher seeds win more often, because they’re usually the best teams. It’s always going to skew to the top no matter what format you have. In the last 50 Super Bowls, 54% have been the #1 seed. 8% of the winners have been Wild Card teams. That’s not promising for the loser on Sunday. However, those four Wild Card winners have all been in the last 18 seasons. That’s an impressive 22.2% coming from the Wild Card spots. The latest one to do it being Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020/2021. Packers fans will constantly talk about Aaron Rodgers and team winning from the 6 seed in 2010/2011.

That trend doesn’t make Sunday look nearly as important. The loser of this game will be the best Wild Card team ever. So, on paper it isn’t nearly as scary. It’s more important for the Lions, from my perspective. They’re beat up a bit and could use a bye week (who couldn’t?). They were undefeated on the road, so there’s that. I want that win and I think the Vikings will win on Sunday. Is it the most important game in the history of the world? No, but it does help.