Better for CHI or GB to lose on Sunday?

[socalvikes]

I have been looking at the playoff picture here (CBS does it great):
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/standings/ ... ce/bracket

And if CHI loses, it seems to help us immediately, however, it could also help us if GB is to lose since we can still play them at the Dome.

I'm starting to really think it's better if CHI loses but I'm not totally sure?

I really hope WAS & DAL lose, and we could really start seeing some brightness with a big win against HOU, and GB....

WE CAN DO THIS!!!

[Orion]

I think we can all agree the Vikings realistic chance of making the playoffs is if they win out and finish 10-6. So I'll assume that for this argument. I'll also assume the best (and likely) case scenario for the rest of the games for Chicago and GB.


Case 1: Say GB wins. GB is 10-4, they will most likely beat tennessee and they lose in minnesota and finish 11-5. Chicago is now 8-6, and for the sake of argument, they beat arizona and detroit and go 10-6. If the Vikings win out, the Vikings would win the tiebreaker over Chicago due to win lost tied percentage in division games.

Case 2: Now, if Chicago wins, they are 9-5, GB is 9-5, and the Vikings are 8-6. Assuming the Vikings win out and GB beats tennessee, the Vikings finish 10-6, GB finishes 10-6, and assume Chicago wins the remaining games and go 11-5. Vikings win the tiebreaker over GB due to win lost tied percentage in division games.

Therefore, in either case assuming Dallas and Washington don't win out as well, the Vikings make the playoffs in the number 6 seed. The Vikings don't have a shot at the division title unless, in case 1, GB loses to Tennessee (possible) and in case 2, chicago loses to Arizona (extremely unlikely) or Detroit (definitely possible).

So we can root for Chicago to win because the only significance this game holds for the Vikings is for possibly winning the division and Chicago (I would be shocked if they lost to Arizona) is more likely to lose to Detroit then Green Bay is to Tennessee, meaning in case 2, if GB beats the Titans, they finish 10-6, Chicago loses to Detroit, finishes 10-6, and the Vikings win the division through tiebreaking rules.

Please respond if there are any faults in my thinking.

[socalvikes]

Excellent post, thank you!

And yeah... Arizona is awful, poor Cards... They got demolished by Seattle.

C'mon Ponder, we believe in ya!

[jackal]

I would say the Bears would help us more ..

we want the Skins and a few other that are close to the same record to lose as well..

[PurpleHalo]

Don't matter, you can't take the equivalent of Brooks Bollinger into the playoffs, unless you have a defense for the ages. Adrian can't win the last three games alone on offense.

The only thing they should be thinking about, is, how to aqquire a signal caller for next season. Not trying to be Debbie downer, but cmon, this team isn't winning out.

[socalvikes]

I donno man, Ponder was NOT that bad the beginning of the season.
ie: When we were wining the s*** out of games.

But, he just needs his confidence back... We can make the playoffs... Just believe !! lol
At least we get the RAMS first, so the first "reality check" isn't that bad at all....
Man will I be crushed if we lose to STL. :/

[PurpleMustReign]

Don't matter, you can't take the equivalent of Brooks Bollinger into the playoffs, unless you have a defense for the ages. Adrian can't win the last three games alone on offense.

The only thing they should be thinking about, is, how to aqquire a signal caller for next season. Not trying to be Debbie downer, but cmon, this team isn't winning out.

[Purple bruise]

I "hate" the Packers more than any other team, so it would be hard to root for them to beat the Bears but that would enhance the Vikes position regarding the play-offs.
More importantly to me will be the outcome of the Vikes/Rams game. My feeling are that if they can't beat the Rams in such a cruical game, then there is no sense in even thinking about making the play-offs nor would I even care to see them in the play-offs.

[Reignman]

Chicago is more apt to collapse these final 3 games than the Packers so Chicago losing would be better for us IMO. Having said that, come on Viking fans, don't do it to yourselves again lol. We shouldn't even be thinking about the playoffs the way our passing game looks.

Houston losing to New England hurt us Monday night. If they had won, they probably wouldn't have had anything to play for when we play them next week, but now homefield will be on the line for them. The Packers will be playing for better positioning and possibly a 1st round bye in that last game, so we don't have any "automatic" wins the rest of the way, and we didn't help ourselves by losing the tie breaker to most of the teams still in contention (Sea, Was, TB). But if we manage to pull it off, with the 6th seed we'll more than likely be playing at Lamebeau or at San Fran in the wildcard game.

[Eli]

Looks pretty clear-cut now that the Packers have won the game. The Packers have clinched the NFC North, and the Vikings currently have the tie-breaker over the Bears.

But both the Vikings and the Bears could end up shut out of a wildcard spot. After the Bears started this season 7-1, I wouldn't have believed they could finish without winning either the NFC North or a wildcard.

[tmscr]

dallas setting themselves up for a chance at a game-winning FG. really needed dallas to lose. so far, the bears are the only team either tied or ahead of us who lost today..

[tmscr]

and dallas punts. headed for OT

[tmscr]

This Steelers / Cowboys game is actually a pretty good game and with that great kick return by the Cowboys, they came away with nothing. At least it doesn't just happen to the Vikings.

But the Vikings really needed another "W" in the Win column and we wouldn't be sweating this as much. Slim chances still.

yep, chances are slim. giants are the team we need to lose out, they have a better conference record than the vikings. nevermind the fact that we have 2 tough games ourselves

[J. Kapp 11]

Crap.

Stupid Cowboys. Another 8-6 team in the mix.

[yezzir]

I guess they are correct, Cowboys winning may have actually helped the Vikings.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/standings/_/type ... rder/false

So as of right now, were in?