Vikings Remain No. 3 Seed in NFC Playoffs, Will Host Giants in Wild Card Round

The 49ers won their tenth consecutive game to clinch the No. 2 seed with a tiebreaker.

The Vikings did their part. The Cardinals, unsurprisingly, did not.

Minnesota needed a win over Chicago and a Cardinals upset over the 49ers to pass San Francisco for the No. 2 seed in the NFC on Sunday. The Vikings won their game, but as expected, the 49ers routed the Cardinals for their tenth consecutive win. That means the 49ers, by virtue of a conference record tiebreaker, have clinched the No. 2 seed in the conference.

Both Minnesota and San Francisco went 13-4, but the 49ers went 10-2 against NFC teams to the Vikings' 8-4.

Here's what the NFC playoff bracket looks like:

1. Eagles (14-3)
2. 49ers (13-4)
3. Vikings (13-4)
4. Buccaneers (8-9)
5. Cowboys (12-5)
6. Giants (9-7-1)
7. TBD: Packers/Lions/Seahawks

The 49ers will host either Green Bay, Detroit, or Seattle. The Buccaneers will host the Cowboys. And the Vikings will host the Giants.

We don't yet know when the games will take place. Between both conferences, there will be six games on wild card weekend: two on Saturday, three on Sunday, and one on Monday night.

Vikings-Giants will be an interesting matchup because the two teams are quite familiar with each other. They just played on Christmas Eve at U.S. Bank Stadium, a game the Vikings won 27-24 on a 61-yard walk-off field goal by Greg Joseph. After leading 10-0, the Vikings trailed 13-10 entering the fourth quarter, but scored 17 points in the final frame to secure a win.

Kirk Cousins was great against the Giants, throwing for 299 yards and three touchdowns without a turnover. 242 of those yards and all three scores went to Justin Jefferson and T.J. Hockenson. Cousins was pressured on 18 of 52 dropbacks and took four sacks.

Defensively, the Vikings allowed 445 yards to the Giants, including 334 passing yards from Daniel Jones. Saquon Barkley averaged six yards per carry. But the Vikings sacked Jones three times — Danielle Hunter had two of them — and won the turnover battle 2-0, getting a forced fumble and recovery from Brian Asamoah and an interception from Patrick Peterson.

It'll be fascinating to see what kind of adjustments both teams make just three weeks later as they play a survive-and-advance postseason game between two first-year head coaches.

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