How the Vikings Saved Week 18
The Vikings set themselves up for an epic season finale, Saquon Barkley tops 2,000 yards, the Buccaneers keep the NFC South interesting-ish, and the AFC ... is definitely a conference, too.
In this penultimate regular-season edition of NFL Walkthrough …
The Philadelphia Eagles blow out the Dallas Cowboys with the help of another magnificent Saquon Barkley performance, making next week’s playoff scenarios much less interesting.
The Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs win the first-ever Holiday Invitational Tournament, making next week’s playoff scenarios much less interesting.
The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Denver Broncos but lost lots of important early-season games, making next week’s playoff scenarios much less interesting.
The Atlanta Falcons and Washington Commanders battled into the night, but the playoff scenarios which involved them weren’t all that interesting once the Eagles won.
The Los Angeles Rams won a grimy defensive duel, making nest week’s playoff scenarios much less interesting.
Fortunately, the Minnesota Vikings, NFC bridesmaids for months, delivered a victory that will make Week 18 palatable for fans.
How the Vikings Saved Week 18
Give the Vikings credit. Please. They deserve it. Their fans crave it. The Vikings were expected to apologize all year for not fitting the mold, not staying in their snakebit rebuilding team cubbyhole, not being as cool as the Lions. But they just gave us something to get excited about next week: a capstone season finale that isn’t (blech) Seahawks-Rams. And they did it by engineering yet another one-score victory, their ninth of the season.
Ummm, actually, most Vikings one-score victories have not really been close this season. The Vikings just have a habit of letting opponents get back in the game late in the fourth quarter. Also, their +313-yard net penalty differential is not the result of luck but of discipline, the ferocity of Brian Flores’ defense and Justin Jefferson’s unstoppability. Furthermore, all of their other perceived shortcomings are secretly overwhelming strengths …
Oops, it looks like a Vikings blogger or podcaster snuck into the editing room; the Vikings media is like the anti-Eagles media in their thirsty, defensive boosterism. Sorry, Skol Homerrsen: if you need a third-down conversion with 1:49 to play to stave off a possible catastrophe, that’s a one-score victory, no matter how the rest of the game played out.
Snark aside, the Vikings did indeed outperform a very tough opponent in their 27-25 win over the Packers.