Viktor
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2019
- 2,552
- 0
San Francisco ran away with a Sunday Night Football victory over Green Bay, which means the Packers and Vikings now share an 8-3 record.
The Packers do hold a tie-breaker over the Vikings right now due to their Week 2 win in Green Bay, but the second Border Battle of the season will take place at U.S. Bank Stadium on Dec. 23.
Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune pointed out that “the Vikings chance to win the NFC North is now under their own control” as they prepare to head to Seattle for Monday Night Football. Goessling wrote:
The Vikings … only need to beat the Packers for the fourth straight year at U.S. Bank Stadium and match them the rest of the way to win the division title.
It’s the Vikings upcoming task, however, that might have the most to say about their division title chances.
Their assignment against the Seahawks is no easy task for a number of reasons. They’ll face a 9-2 team that’s beaten them five straight times (and hasn’t allowed them to score more than nine points since 2013). They’ll play on the West Coast at night (historically a daunting proposition), and face Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, an MVP candidate who’s tormented the Vikings like few others.
Unless they’re able to win at CenturyLink Field for the first time since 2006, the Vikings could again find themselves in the position of needing help from an underwhelming set of Packers opponents if they want to win the division.
Green Bay is set to face the Giants next week and then Washington. The combined record of the Packers remaining non-Vikings opponents is 12-31-1.
Goessling explained that if the Vikings lose to the Seahawks, they’ll need to win their final four games and hope that the Packers lose another to fall to 11-5.
If the Vikings were to lose more than one of their last five and still end up with the same record as the Packers, the only way they can claim a division title is with Green Bay losing a second division game (to either the Bears or Lions), which would then give Minnesota the NFC North crown based on its record against common opponents (the Vikings Week 6 win over the Eagles, who beat the Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 4, would be huge here).