Wild Card Picks: Gratuitous Pictures To Distract You From All The Awful Vikings News!

Holy crap. Thursday was not a very good day for the Minnesota Vikings franchise. We're only two days into the year and the team is probably asking for a do-over on 2014.

Nobody ever said that cheering for the Vikings was easy, and today proved that. We already knew that Jerome Simpson was headed to court for his DUI arrest. Then came news that Erin Henderson was arrested on suspicion of DUI for the second time in less than two months. Then Chris Kluwe came along with a Deadspin article that...well, I'm sure you've all heard about it by now. All I can say is: SHOTS. FIRED. That's a lot of negative news surrounding a team coming off a disappointing 5-10-1 season that just so happens to be looking for a new head coach.

I know that this is a Vikings site and all, but can we talk about something else for a bit? I think I have just the thing.

If you have followed my preview and picks articles throughout the season, you know that one of my recurring features is the Gratuitous Picture of the Week. The GPotW is a picture of one or more NFL cheerleaders, and said cheerleaders are usually rather scantily clad. So I figured instead of talking about all the bad things happening to the Vikings, why not revisit each of my 17 GPotWs and have everyone vote on their favorite?

Stick around for my Wild Card Weekend picks at the end, but for now, enjoy the show and vote on your favorite!

Week 1: Jaguars

Week 2: Patriots

Week 3: Seahawks

Week 4: Titans

Week 5: Rams

Week 6: Broncos

Week 7: Redskins

Week 8: Raiders

Week 9: Vikings

Week 10: Falcons

Week 11: Buccaneers

Week 12: Dolphins

Week 13: Cowboys

Week 14: Chargers

Week 15: Colts

Week 16: Bills

Week 17: Bengals

And there you have it! Make sure to vote below. And now for my Wild Card Weekend picks (home teams in ALL CAPS):

COLTS over Chiefs: Kansas City benched everyone and almost won last week; they started everyone and got killed by Indianapolis two weeks ago. I think momentum heading into the playoffs is important; I'll take the team that finished the season 5-2 over the team that finished the season 2-5.

EAGLES over Saints: Argument against New Orleans: they went 3-5 on the road this year and looked like a completely different team when they left the Superdome. Argument against Philadelphia: they lost to the lowly Vikings only three weeks ago. I'll take the Eagles--their bad stat was only once while the Saints' was all season.

BENGALS over Chargers: I'm always afraid of the "happy to be there" team, and the Chargers are definitely that after lucking into the playoffs last week. But we saw first hand how lethal Cincy can be at home.

49ers over PACKERS: The Niners own the Packers. This won't change no matter how Frozen the Tundra gets on Sunday afternoon.

Last week: 15-1 (BOOM)
Regular season: 169-86-1 (Seven picks worse than the 2012 season)