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If the Minnesota Vikings want to wrap up their first NFC North title since 2017 in Week 15, they’re going to have to do something that the franchise hasn’t done in a quarter of a century.
Defeat the Indianapolis Colts.
The Colts come to down off of their bye week, bringing their 4-8-1 record to U.S. Bank Stadium to face the 10-3 Minnesota Vikings as the opening game of a Saturday tripleheader of NFL action. The Vikings could have wrapped up the NFC North in Week 14 with a victory over the Lions, but they couldn’t get out of Ford Field with a win, delaying the (seemingly) inevitable.
The Vikings haven’t beaten the Colts since December of 1997. For some perspective on that, that was approximately two weeks after Colts’ legend Peyton Manning finished second in the 1997 Heisman Trophy voting while at the University of Tennessee. The Vikings have dropped six straight to the Colts since then, with the last two coming in particularly embarrassing fashion by a combined score of 66-17.
A win for the Vikings would, as we’ve mentioned, wrap up the division championship and a home playoff game for the team. It would also nearly guarantee that they couldn’t drop below the #3 seed in the conference. Heading into Week 15 action, they sit in the #2 spot, but the San Francisco 49ers are hot on their heels.
The DraftKings Sportsbook has installed the Vikings as an early 4.5-point favorite for this one, with the initial over/under sitting at 47 points.
Saturday’s tripleheader will be broadcast on the NFL Network, but for those in the Twin Cities area it will be broadcast on KSTP-5. The game might also be available on NFL dot com or some other cord-cutting services. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for noon Central time on Saturday, 17 December.