Loser of Vikings-Lions will be heading to Los Angeles to face the Rams

The Rams' loss, combined with a Buccaneers win, locked them into the NFC's No. 4 seed.

Oct 24, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) throws the ball against the Los Angeles Rams in the first half at SoFi Stadium. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Whoever loses Sunday night's game between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions will be heading to Los Angeles to take on the Rams, who were locked into the No. 4 seed after losing to the Seattle Seahawks Sunday afternoon.

The game will be on Monday night (Jan. 13) on ESPN, the league has announced.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-7) clinched the NFC South with a win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday and were locked into the No. 3 seed after the Rams (10-7) lost to the Seahawks. The Bucs had the tiebreaker with a better conference record.

The loser in tonight's battle for the NFC North and top seed in the conference will be locked into the No. 5 seed in the NFC, meaning they'll play the lowest-seeded division champion, which is Los Angeles. The winner gets the first-round bye.

The Vikings lost 30-20 to the Rams at SoFi Stadium in a Thursday night game back in Week 8. Matthew Stafford carved up Brian Flores' defense for four touchdowns in that game, which ended in controversy when the officials missed a blatant Rams facemask penalty as Sam Darnold was sacked for a safety. The Vikings didn't have linebacker Blake Cashman or tight end T.J. Hockenson in that game. They've won nine in a row since then.

On paper, the Rams (-19 point differential) are a more favorable opponent than the Buccaneers (+117 differential), but Stafford is always dangerous in the playoffs. If the Vikings win on Sunday night, it'll set up another revenge game between Stafford and the Lions.

The Washington Commanders beat the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers lost to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, locking them into the No. 6 and No. 7 seeds, respectively, in the conference. That leaves all the playoff seeds accounted for except for the No. 1 and No. 5 seeds that will be decided in Sunday night's showdown. Kickoff is at 7:20 p.m. central time in Detroit.

NFC picture

1. Minnesota Vikings/Detroit Lions
2. Philadelphia Eagles
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
4. Los Angeles Rams
5. Minnesota Vikings/Detroit Lions
6. Washington Commanders
7. Green Bay Packers

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