Who will the Vikings play on Wild Card Weekend?

In a little less than 24 hours, your Minnesota Vikings will be kicking off their regular season finale at U.S. Bank Stadium when they host the Chicago Bears. Because of their loss on Monday night, we know that the Vikings are locked into the #6 spot in the NFC playoffs and will be on the road next Saturday or Sunday for the first round of the playoffs.

But, where are they most likely to be traveling to?

Well, the answer to that question hinges on the result of three other Sunday games, one of which is the very last game of the season. That means that we likely won’t know until Sunday night where the Vikings will be headed to and when.

The three games that will determine the Vikings’ first-round destination are the following:

1. Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions
2. New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers
3. San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks

Right now, the only teams that are locked into their seeding spots are the Vikings (at #6) and whoever wins the NFC East on Sunday (at #4). For the sake of brevity. . .and my sanity. . .I will not include the possibility of a tie in any of these games, so there are eight potential scenarios that could play out based on the results of those three games.

Here are those eight scenarios, along with how the seeding would fall as a result of those results.

Green Bay wins, New Orleans wins, San Francisco wins

• #1 - San Francisco, #2 - Green Bay, #3 - New Orleans, #5 - Seattle (Vikings at New Orleans)

Green Bay wins, New Orleans wins, Seattle wins

• #1 - Green Bay, #2 - New Orleans, #3 - Seattle, #5 - San Francisco (Vikings at Seattle)

Green Bay wins, Carolina wins, San Francisco wins

• #1 - San Francisco, #2 - Green Bay, #3 - New Orleans, #5 - Seattle (Vikings at New Orleans)

Green Bay wins, Carolina wins, Seattle wins

• #1 - Green Bay, #2 - New Orleans, #3 - Seattle, #5 - San Francisco (Vikings at Seattle)

Detroit wins, New Orleans wins, San Francisco wins

• #1 - San Francisco, #2 - New Orleans, #3 - Green Bay, #5 - Seattle (Vikings at Green Bay)

Detroit wins, New Orleans wins, Seattle wins

• #1 - New Orleans, #2 - Seattle, #3 - Green Bay, #5 - San Francisco (Vikings at Green Bay)

Detroit wins, Carolina wins, San Francisco wins

• #1 - San Francisco, #2 - Green Bay, #3 - New Orleans, #5 - Seattle (Vikings at New Orleans)

Detroit wins, Carolina wins, Seattle wins

• #1 - Seattle, #2 - Green Bay, #3 - New Orleans, #5 - San Francisco (Vikings at New Orleans)

Of the eight potential scenarios, four of them send the Vikings to New Orleans, while two send them to Seattle and two to Green Bay.

If we’re being honest with ourselves, you’d have to think that the odds of the Saints and/or Packers losing are pretty slim. Yes, they’re both on the road, but they’re both playing teams that have pretty much packed it in for the season, so they should both end up winning. That means we can probably dismiss the scenarios that include either or both of them losing.

Assuming that both New Orleans and Green Bay win, everything would come down to the Sunday Night Football game in Seattle between the Seahawks and the 49ers. In that case, a win for San Francisco would give them the #1 seed and send the Vikings to New Orleans on Wild Card Weekend. A win for Seattle would give them the NFC West and the #3 seed, meaning the Vikings would get a return trip to the Pacific Northwest for the Wild Card round.

Those are the scenarios for Wild Card weekend, folks. Is there a scenario that you would prefer over the others?