Inside The Vikings

NFC Playoff Picture, Standings Update: Wild Card Race Tightening

The Vikings still sit in the sixth spot in the NFC, but their margin for error is shrinking.

Will Ragatz

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Through 15 weeks of football, the 7-7 Vikings are still occupying the sixth seed in the NFC playoff picture. But because they lost to the Bengals on Saturday, their margin for error is fairly slim heading into the season's final three-game stretch.

The Seahawks' dramatic win over the Eagles on Monday night means there are now four teams tied for the two final wild card spots at 7-7 (technically five teams tied there, but one is going to win the NFC South).

Here's what it looks like ahead of Week 16:

Updated NFC playoff picture
The updated NFC playoff picture. (x = clinched playoff spot, k = eliminated from division title race) / NFL GSIS

If the regular season was over, the Vikings would be headed to Detroit in the first round of the playoffs. In reality, they have two games with the Lions over the next three weeks that will decide quite a bit (sandwiched around a primetime clash with the Packers).

The Saints, Rams, Seahawks, and Buccaneers all won this weekend to tie up the Vikings at 7-7, though at least the Falcons lost and the Bucs' win came against Green Bay. All in all, it was a bad weekend for the Vikings' playoff odds, with their result in Cincinnati obviously being the most consequential of them all.

2-1 almost certainly gets Minnesota into the dance. 1-2 probably doesn't, though it could happen with some help elsewhere. The odds might be slightly less than 50 percent at this point if you factor in Nick Mullens being the Vikings' quarterback. And the only way they win the NFC North now is if they win out and the Lions also lose to Dallas, so that feels like a pipe dream.

Buckle in, everyone. Vikings-Lions on Sunday is a big one.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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