:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48445927/GettyImages-502652348.0.jpg)
With their victory over the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings are officially in the NFL playoffs for the first time since 2012, and the entire NFC playoff field is set. Now, it's a matter of where everyone will be seeded, and there are still three potential outcomes for the Vikings based on the results of two specific Week 17 games. Those two games are the match-up at Lambeau Field between the Vikings and the Green Bay Packers, and the other is the game at University of Phoenix Stadium between the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals.
The big one is the Vikings/Packers game, obviously, and that one makes things pretty simple. If the Vikings should beat the Packers at Lambeau for the first time since 2009, they would win the NFC North and be installed as the #3 seed in the NFC playoffs. In that scenario, the results of the Seattle/Arizona game wouldn't matter. The Vikings will host the Seattle Seahawks if they win the NFC North. The reason for that is because, with Green Bay and Seattle as wild cards, Green Bay would get the #5 seed based on their head-to-head victory over the Seahawks if they finished with the same record.
But what if the Vikings don't win next Sunday? Well, then both the #5 and the #6 seed are potentially in play.
If the Vikings should lose and Arizona defeats Seattle in their game, the Vikings would be the #5 seed and the Seahawks would come in at #6. In that scenario, the Vikings would have a record of 10-6, and the Seahawks would be 9-7. With that being the case, Seattle would travel to play Green Bay and the Vikings would get a ticket to the nation's capital to take on the NFC East champions, the Washington Redskins.
If the Vikings lose on Sunday and the Seahawks defeat Arizona, then the Seahawks would be the #5 seed and the Vikings would be at #6, as both teams would have 10-6 records and Seattle's head-to-head win over the Vikings would come into play. In that scenario, the Vikings would be back in Green Bay again for the Wild Card round and the Seahawks would travel to take on the Redskins.
So there you have it, folks. . .the Vikings are going to be the #3, #5, or #6 seed in the NFC playoffs based on the outcomes of their game against Green Bay and the Cardinals/Seahawks game in Arizona.