A look at the race for the No. 2 seed between Vikings, 49ers
San Francisco fans were probably licking their chops when they saw the Vikings trailing the Colts 33-0 at halftime on Saturday, but the largest comeback in NFL history kept Minnesota ahead of the 49ers in the race for the NFC's No. 2 seed.
The 49ers improved to 10-4 with a win Thursday night over Seattle. They're one game behind the 11-3 Vikings, who have clinched the NFC North and have the inside track to the No. 2 seed, though avoiding a tie with the 49ers is a must because Minnesota probably won't own that tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker, since they don't play head-to-head, goes to the team with the better conference record. The 49ers are 8-2 in the NFC and the Vikings are 6-3, so there's a good shot that a tie between the two would go to the 49ers and leave the Vikings with the No. 3 seed.
Final three for the Vikings...
- Dec. 24: vs. New York Giants (7-5-1)
- Jan. 1: at Green Bay Packers (5-8)
- Jan. 8: at Chicago Bears (3-10)
Final three for the 49ers...
- Dec. 24: vs. Washington Commanders (7-5-1)
- Jan. 1: at Las Vegas Raiders (5-8)
- Jan. 8: vs. Arizona Cardinals
The 49ers definitely have a more favorable schedule. The Commanders are good and the Raiders could be tough in Vegas, but the Cardinals are without Kyler Murray and fading fast.
The Vikings have to play a faltering-but-solid Giants team and then play cold-weather games at Lambeau Field and Soldier Field, and anything goes in those games – especially if the temperature and wind chill become a factor as it normally does in January.
Related: Vikings clinch NFC North with biggest comeback in NFL history
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Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.