(5) Minnesota Vikings @ (4) Los Angeles Rams
Monday, January 13, 8:00 PM ET (ESPN/ABC/ESPN+)
It's going to be important not to have a bad recency bias with the Minnesota Vikings because we've been singing their praises so much this season. There's no doubt that the Vikings have a great team and there's also no doubt that what we just saw in a crucial game from Sam Darnold was alarming.
The Vikings haven't had many games like that from Darnold this year, and even when he hasn't played well, they've mostly been able to overcome it by winning anyway. Kevin O'Connell is the master of the one-score game, or at least right up there with Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs.
But the Vikings have a fascinating draw for the Wild Card Round of the playoffs going up against O'Connell's former boss, Sean McVay. The Los Angeles Rams have been one of those teams that I highlight almost every single week on this site in one way or another as a dangerous team that could potentially upset someone in this kind of situation.
While the Vikings are unfairly the 5th seed after all they've accomplished this year, I'm not so sure that loss against Detroit didn't cost them a trip past the first round of the postseason.
The Rams were able to win five of their last six games to close out the 2024 season, and they did so with their defense getting hot at the exact right time. We saw them sit some starters and key players in the regular season finale against the Seahawks, but before that, the Rams hadn't even given up 10 points in a month.
The last time they gave up more than nine points was a shootout against the Buffalo Bills...which they won.
This Rams team has a couple of key factors playing in its favor. They are playing at home. They have a head coach and quarterback who have won it all before. And the home team's head coach is the "master" to the visiting coach's "apprentice". Even the oddsmakers are torn on this one with the Vikings a 1.5-point road favorite.
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Prediction: Rams win 27-23