Vikings’ playoff scenario is still very simple

We talked about the NFC playoff picture in the wake of the Minnesota Vikings’ loss to the Detroit Lions this past Sunday, but even with that defeat the path to the playoffs remains a simple one for our favorite team.

All the Vikings need is to win (or tie) one more game between now and the end of the season, or have the Lions lose (or tie) one more game between now and then. Once one of those things happens, the Vikings will punch their ticket to the postseason party for the first time since 2019 and celebrate their first division title since 2017.

The playoffs are now, more or less, a matter of seeding for the Vikings, who currently sit in the #2 spot in the conference. Their chances at the top seed have pretty much evaporated, and now the San Francisco 49ers sit just one game behind them in the race for the second seed. That could be the difference between hosting the 49ers in the Divisional Round and having to travel to Levi’s Stadium, assuming that both of those teams would get through the Wild Card Round.

The Vikings are virtually guaranteed a top 3 seed in the conference. One more win for the Vikings would give them 11 wins and make it impossible for them to finish any worse than 11-6. On the other hand, the best record that any potential NFC South champion could finish with is 10-7, and that’s only if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win out the rest of the way. So the Vikings have pretty much no worry of falling to the #4 in terms of playoff seeding. The #4 seed will almost certainly be whoever wins the NFC South.

San Francisco plays tonight when they travel to Seattle with an opportunity to clinch the NFC West and pull even with the Vikings in the win column. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on that one because it’s suddenly a game that’s of significant interest to fans of the Vikings and their potential playoff position.