The Minnesota Vikings got two of the three things that they needed to clinch a postseason berth in Week 14. Unfortunately, with apologies to the late, great Meat Loaf, two out of three ain’t good.
Ain’t good enough, anyway.
The Vikings blew out the Falcons by a score of 42-21 to secure their sixth consecutive win to move to 11-2. They also got the necessary help from the Seattle Seahawks, who defeated the Arizona Cardinals 30-18 in Sunday’s late window. The third piece of the equation, however, required the Buffalo Bills to defeat the Los Angeles Rams, and that didn’t happen. Despite six touchdowns from Josh Allen, the Rams held on to beat the Bills by a score of 44-42 at SoFi Stadium.
While the Vikings haven’t officially punched their ticket to the postseason party, the scenario is quite simple for them from this point forward. Any Minnesota win or any Rams loss over the course of the next four weeks will put the Vikings into the 2024 NFC playoffs.
The Rams and the Vikings will both play games in prime time in Week 15. Los Angeles will head up the West Coast to take on the reeling San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football to start the week, while the Vikings will wrap up the week on Monday Night Football when they host the Chicago Bears in this year’s “Winter Whiteout” contest at U.S. Bank Stadium.
It would have been nice for the Vikings to get themselves into the playoffs this weekend, but with the season they’ve had to this point, it would take a pretty epic collapse. . .even by Vikings standards. . .for them to not find their way into the postseason at this point.