Minnesota Vikings stunning resurgence has them in the NFC playoffs

The Minnesota Vikings have gone from the bottom to an NFC playoff spot.

Just a handful of weeks ago, the Minnesota Vikings looked to be on the way to a disappointing season in 2020 after starting with a brutal record through six games. Going into the Week 7 bye, Minnesota held a record of 1-5 overall and were coming fresh off of a horrible loss to the then winless Atlanta Falcons in Minnesota in Week 6.

The Vikings appeared to already have a lost season, with the idea of selling a bulk of the pieces and players on the team at the trade deadline seeming to be a strong possibility with head coach Mike Zimmer also on the hot seat.

Minnesota was at 1-5 overall and at the bottom of both the NFC North division behind the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions. The Vikings were also free-falling down the conference standings before the midway point of the regular season approached.

Fast forward through Week 13, Minnesota has completely turned things around and have somehow climbed its way back into a playoff spot in the NFC going into Week 14.

Since that Week 7 bye, the Vikings have won five of their last six games, three of which have come against NFC North squads in the Packers, Bears and Lions. With the exception of a brutal 31-28 loss at home to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 11, Minnesota has been nearly perfect since taking part in its annual bye week in late October.

Following a 27-24 overtime win over the struggling Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday afternoon in Week 13, the Vikings have climbed back to the .500 mark on the season and hold a 6-6 record while sitting in second place in the NFC North standings.

Along with that, Minnesota has inched its way all the way back from the bottom of the conference to presently holding the final Wild Card spot in the NFC playoff picture with four games remaining in the regular-season schedule.

Thanks to the Vikings’ win in Week 13 and an Arizona Cardinals loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota has jumped Arizona for the seventh seed in the NFC playoffs. If the year did conclude today, Minnesota would hit the road to take on divisional rival Green Bay, which is currently the No. 2 seed at 9-3 overall, in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.

Although it is in a playoff spot, FiveThirtyEight still lists Minnesota at 38 percent to reach the playoffs, according to its projections for the rest of the year.

The Vikings still have some work to do the rest of the season, including tough road games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 14 and New Orleans Saints in Week 16, while also taking on Chicago in Minnesota in Week 15 and Detroit on the road in Week 17.

The biggest game in the near future for the Vikings is the Week 14 contest in Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers are just one game ahead of Minnesota in the standings at 7-5 overall and if the Vikings were to claim that game, they would continue to climb and create some room in the standings in order to reach the postseason.

The Cardinals, who are just behind the Vikings, have more of a favorable schedule the rest of the season, with FiveThirtyEight giving them a 34 percent chance to get into the playoffs. Arizona takes on the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams the rest of the year. Other teams behind Minnesota in the standings are the 49ers (5-6 overall entering Monday night’s Week 13 game vs. Buffalo), the Bears (5-7) and the Lions (5-7).

The Vikings still have some work to do before they can officially call themselves a playoff team in 2020, but the battle back into the postseason picture has been impressive to say the least.