We are now in control of our own destiny...

[Orion]

And if we take 1 out of 2 we need:

a) Giants to lose twice

b) either Washington to beat Dallas in week 17 or Washington to lose twice

[jackal]

The redskins have to lose a game or two or win there division ..

I am not sure if the Cowboys have a tie breaker with us or strength of schedule advantage ..

I know the Redskins have the tie breaker against us , for sure

bottom line is we should have beaten the Colt's and not lost to Tampa Bay ,and we would be in for sure

[Dark]

For us to make the playoffs:

a) We need to win out

b) Giants need to lose at least 1 game

This is confirmed with the ESPN playoff machine. Even if Dallas and Washington both win next week, one of them is guaranteed to lose week 17 and it doesn't matter which (try it).

Giants will beat the Ravens, and then easily beat the Eagles. Now don't go saying im a bad fan and say negative things, but I think our chances of making to the playoffs are slim. I don't want to get my hopes up that we will make the playoffs and then be severely dissapointed. I love the optimism though!!!

[PurpleKoolaid]

Giants will beat the Ravens, and then easily beat the Eagles. Now don't go saying im a bad fan and say negative things, but I think our chances of making to the playoffs are slim. I don't want to get my hopes up that we will make the playoffs and then be severely dissapointed. I love the optimism though!!!

I dont think they will make them either, but not because the Ravens wont beat the Giants. unless the Giants get really lucky again. They played horrible today.

[Orion]

Giants will beat the Ravens, and then easily beat the Eagles. Now don't go saying im a bad fan and say negative things, but I think our chances of making to the playoffs are slim. I don't want to get my hopes up that we will make the playoffs and then be severely dissapointed. I love the optimism though!!!

Lol Giants are likely to lose one of those games; the Eagles usually play tough in the meadowlands and are actually 4-0 in the last 4 games in the meadowlands and Ravens are tough at home and the Giants certainly aren't the Denver Broncos. After seeing the giants get blown out in Atlanta I don't see how you could give them the edge over Baltimore in baltimore.

More likely the Giants lose at least once than the Vikings win both games though. Not optimistic just stating the facts.

[Dark]

Lol Giants are likely to lose one of those games; the Eagles usually play tough in the meadowlands and are actually 4-0 in the last 4 games in the meadowlands and Ravens are tough at home and the Giants certainly aren't the Denver Broncos. After seeing the giants get blown out in Atlanta I don't see how you could give them the edge over Baltimore in baltimore.

More likely the Giants lose at least once than the Vikings win both games though. Not optimistic just stating the facts.

Eagles are not the team they used to be, so that 4-0 stat means nothing, and I would say the Giants are pretty close to a Denver caliber team. They won the SB last year and have an elite QB and defense. Not to mention Ravens have lost 3 straight.

[CalVike]

Cowboys win moved us to #6 today but a loss would have been far better for where we need to be after Week 17.

[PurpleHalo]

Theres a big prize hanging there for Houston. Win, and they clinch a first round bye. With Denver@ 11-3, New England@ 10-4, Houston could be a WC team, if they lose out. They should be motivated at home. Very tough game, for the Vikings.

I just looked, they beat Denver, so, they beat Vikings, they clinch home field.

[cstelter]

Theres a big prize hanging there for Houston. Win, and they clinch a first round bye. With Denver@ 11-3, New England@ 10-4, Houston could be a WC team, if they lose out. They should be motivated at home. Very tough game, for the Vikings.

I just looked, they beat Denver, so, they beat Vikings, they clinch home field.

If by WC team you mean 'no first round bye' then, yes. But they have already clinched their division so they can not become a WC team even if they lose out.

Yes, they will want to win.

[cstelter]

All it takes for us to be in control of our own destiny is a win next week and a giants loss to the ravens. http://www.playoffstatus.com/nfl/vikingswhatif.html

According to that site, there is still a chance of making the playoffs even if we lose out. I wonder what that scenario is? it's < 1% likely so it must be pretty obscure.

Honestly, I'm never thrilled to see 'we control our own destiny'. I don't have many good memories about times when the Vikings have controlled their own destiny. Of course we have the 4 SB losses as well as the 3 more recent NFCC losses. At one point in the season the past 2 NFCC losses we 'controlled our own destiny to get HFA' but we failed. I recall a game against GB in week 16 I think where we win and we win the division and we managed to lose (2003 or 2004 I think). The AZ game where the loss knocked us out of the playoffs. I think the year we went to PHI with TJack, we had to watch some other team lose before we knew we were in the playoffs.

Heck, I'm pretty sure there was a thread about 6 weeks ago about how we controlled our own destiny.

I'm thrilled to be 8-6 and will not complain about an 8-8 season. I know I've already enjoyed this season beyond what I expected going in. I really *want* the team to step up and win the next two games as it will reallly boost these players to get that experience. If they make the playoffs in the process, wonderful. I kinda think they'll end up 9-7 losing to Houston, and then beating GB, but 2-0 or 0-2 wouldn't surprise me too much either. I did not expect us to play as well as we did the past 2 weeks so as I said before, I've already gotten more enjoyment out of the season than I expected. But the bar was pretty low to begin with. Next year the bar will be much higher thanks to this season.

[losperros]

I'm thrilled to be 8-6 and will not complain about an 8-8 season. I know I've already enjoyed this season beyond what I expected going in. I really *want* the team to step up and win the next two games as it will reallly boost these players to get that experience. If they make the playoffs in the process, wonderful. I kinda think they'll end up 9-7 losing to Houston, and then beating GB, but 2-0 or 0-2 wouldn't surprise me too much either. I did not expect us to play as well as we did the past 2 weeks so as I said before, I've already gotten more enjoyment out of the season than I expected. But the bar was pretty low to begin with. Next year the bar will be much higher thanks to this season.

From one Craig to another, I have to say that those are my thoughts exactly. Of course, one must remember that the Vikings are fortunate to have a Terminator for a running back. That means a win is always possible against any team. But even if the Vikings do lose the next two games and end up 8-8, I will be extremely pleased with this season. They have done a far better job than I thought they would and will end the season as a team that I think is on the rise. Do they need to improve some areas? Absolutely. And I believe they will do it.

[cstelter]

According to that site, there is still a chance of making the playoffs even if we lose out. I wonder what that scenario is? it's < 1% likely so it must be pretty obscure.

OK so looking at the standings, if we lose out, we'll be 8-8. So any team in striking distance of 8-8 probably has to play into this scenario-- right now that is:

WAS 8-6
DAL 8-6
NYG 8-6

CHI 8-6

NO 6-8
TB 6-8

STL 6-7-1

Any team already with 9 wins would be ahead of us if we lose 2 that's GB, ATL,SFO, and SEA.

We know we lose the tie breaker to WAS, so the scenario *must* have WAS winning the EAST.

So we must also have NYG, DAL, and CHI losing 2 as well or one of them would be 9-7 which would beat us. TB can't get to 8-8 or they would win tie, so they must lose one. STL must lose 1 or they would be 8-7-1 which would beat 8-8 despite our owning a tie breaker.

WAS -- plays PHI then DAL, Must beat DAL end 9-7 or 10-6
DAL -- plays NO then WAS, Must lose both, end 8-8
NYG -- plays BAL then PHI, must lose both, end 8-8
CHI -- plays AZ then DET, must lose both, end 8-8, MIN has tie breaker based on DIV record
NO -- plays DAL then CAR, must beat DAL, lose to CAR 7-9 (possibly could tie or beat CAR too, I didn't work out that tie breaker)
TB -- plays STL then ATL, must lose 1
STL -- plays TB then SEA, must lose 1

for a DAL-NYG-CHI-MIN 4 way 8-8 tie breaker, first MIN eliminates CHI based on division record, then DAL 3-3 division record beat NYG 2-4 record as they split head to head.

So it pits MIN vs DAL who never played head to head so first break is conference record. Under this scenario (MIN wins 2 and DAL loses 2) DAL is 5-7 and MIN is 6-6 so we win that tie breaker as well.

So, while that requires a whole lot of losing by CHI, NYG, and DAL, the rest of the scenarios seem plausible. CHI losing to AZ and DET seems more than a bit unlikely, and the odds of so many teams going 0-2 combined is what drives this scenario under 1%.

Heh-- how about this crazy scenario:
WAS -- plays PHI then DAL, beats DAL end 9-7 or 10-6
DAL -- plays NO then WAS, lose both, end 8-8
NYG -- plays BAL then PHI, lose both, end 8-8
CHI -- plays AZ then DET, lose both, end 8-8
NO -- plays DAL then CAR, wins both, ends 8-8
TB -- plays STL then ATL, Win both, ends 8-8
STL -- plays TB then SEA, loses to TB, ends at best 7-8-1

This leaves a *6* way tie between DAL, NYG, CHI, MIN, NO, and TB all at 8-8 for one final playoff spot. Guess who wins the tie breaker in this crazy scenario? If I did the thing right, I *think* it's us.

First each division selects a winner, that DAL as indicated above based on division record. It's us based on div record. NO beat TB twice, so it's NO from the south. Now in a 3 way tie between NO, DAL, and MIN, only NO and DAL have played-- MIN hasn't played either. So no head-to-head elimination can take place so it goes on conference record. And if MIN wins out and all the other things go as above, we'll have DAL at 5-7 in confernec, NO at 6-6 and MIN at 6-6, eliminating DAL. Common games for NO + MIN would be WAS, GB, TB, SFO. Vikings are 1-4 against these opponents and NO is 2-3 giving them the tie breaker. So if either NO or TB or both goes to 8-8 and we lose out, then we still miss.

Sorry for my earlier mistaken post.

[Barry]

OK so looking at the standings, if we lose out, we'll be 8-8. So any team in striking distance of 8-8 probably has to play into this scenario-- right now that is:

WAS 8-6
DAL 8-6
NYG 8-6

CHI 8-6

NO 6-8
TB 6-8

STL 6-7-1

Any team already with 9 wins would be ahead of us if we lose 2 that's GB, ATL,SFO, and SEA.

We know we lose the tie breaker to WAS, so the scenario *must* have WAS winning the EAST.

So we must also have NYG, DAL, and CHI losing 2 as well or one of them would be 9-7 which would beat us. TB can't get to 8-8 or they would win tie, so they must lose one. STL must lose 1 or they would be 8-7-1 which would beat 8-8 despite our owning a tie breaker.

WAS -- plays PHI then DAL, Must beat DAL end 9-7 or 10-6
DAL -- plays NO then WAS, Must lose both, end 8-8
NYG -- plays BAL then PHI, must lose both, end 8-8
CHI -- plays AZ then DET, must lose both, end 8-8, MIN has tie breaker based on DIV record
NO -- plays DAL then CAR, must beat DAL, lose to CAR 7-9 (possibly could tie or beat CAR too, I didn't work out that tie breaker)
TB -- plays STL then ATL, must lose 1
STL -- plays TB then SEA, must lose 1

for a DAL-NYG-CHI-MIN 4 way 8-8 tie breaker, first MIN eliminates CHI based on division record, then DAL 3-3 division record beat NYG 2-4 record as they split head to head.

So it pits MIN vs DAL who never played head to head so first break is conference record. Under this scenario (MIN wins 2 and DAL loses 2) DAL is 5-7 and MIN is 7-5 so we win that tie breaker as well.

So, while that requires a whole lot of losing by CHI, NYG, and DAL, the rest of the scenarios seem plausible. CHI losing to AZ and DET seems more than a bit unlikely, and the odds of so many teams going 0-2 combined is what drives this scenario under 1%.

Heh-- how about this crazy scenario:
WAS -- plays PHI then DAL, beats DAL end 9-7 or 10-6
DAL -- plays NO then WAS, lose both, end 8-8
NYG -- plays BAL then PHI, lose both, end 8-8
CHI -- plays AZ then DET, lose both, end 8-8
NO -- plays DAL then CAR, wins both, ends 8-8
TB -- plays STL then ATL, Win both, ends 8-8
STL -- plays TB then SEA, loses to TB, ends at best 7-8-1

This leaves a *6* way tie between DAL, NYG, CHI, MIN, NO, and TB all at 8-8 for one final playoff spot. Guess who wins the tie breaker in this crazy scenario? If I did the thing right, I *think* it's us.

First each division selects a winner, that DAL as indicated above based on division record. It's us based on div record. NO beat TB twice, so it's NO from the south. Now in a 3 way tie between NO, DAL, and MIN, only NO and DAL have played-- MIN hasn't played either. So no head-to-head elimination can take place so it goes on conference record. And if MIN wins out and all the other things go as above, we'll have DAL at 5-7 in confernec, NO at 6-6 and good If old MIN at 7-5.

Go figure...

This is all a scenario on us finishing 8-8, yet you keep showing us winning out and going 7-5 in conference. You can't have both. If we go 8-8 our conference record would be 6-6.

[cstelter]

This is all a scenario on us finishing 8-8, yet you keep showing us winning out and going 7-5 in conference. You can't have both. If we go 8-8 our conference record would be 6-6.

Doh! Of course you are absolutely right! forget everything I said!

Well, not everything I guess-- the first scenario where NO loses one is still valid. I went back and edited my post. If either TB or NO wins out either will own a tiebreaker over us if we should lose out.

sheesh... Too much caffeine, not enough sleep.

[PurpleHalo]

If by WC team you mean 'no first round bye' then, yes. But they have already clinched their division so they can not become a WC team even if they lose out.

Yes, they will want to win.

Yes, I meant they could be playing WC weekend, which would be a huge failure, from where they wete. Very motivated, to lock it up sunday.