Most optimistic I’ve been in a long time

[VikingPaul73]

Wow. I am shocked!!!!I was wrong wrong wrong !!!

This was the classic Vikings loss- on the road on grass against a decent team and a long plane ride

Wow was I WRONG !! It feels good to be wrong

Can this be like the 87 team that sneaks into the playoffs and goes on a huge run??????

[Texas Vike]

Wow. I am shocked!!!!I was wrong wrong wrong !!!

This was the classic Vikings loss- on the road on grass against a decent team and a long plane ride

Wow was I WRONG !! It feels good to be wrong

Can this be like the 87 team that sneaks into the playoffs and goes on a huge run??????

Today was a crazy game. With a minute or so left in the first half, it looked like we were going to head into halftime down. Things flipped around so fast and then spiraled out of control for the Chargers. We did a nice job creating turnovers and seizing momentum when we needed to. Our D made nice adjustments at halftime to disguise blitzes better.

As for our prospects moving forward? We're a good team and we can hang with anyone. Never say never. HUGE game on MNF next week. Can't wait!

Edit to add: An article on Dailynorseman from a couple days ago stated, "Vikings win, Packers win, Cowboys win - 96% chance of making playoffs". Things are sitting much better for us now. What happens if we win out and tie at 12-4 with the Pack? Who wins the division?

[Raz]

Nice to win on the left coast no matter who the opponent

[VikingPaul73]

Unfortunately even if we win out, pack still has the tie breaker by virtue of division record (assuming they beat the lions who have basically given up this year )

[StumpHunter]

Wow. I am shocked!!!!I was wrong wrong wrong !!!

This was the classic Vikings loss- on the road on grass against a decent team and a long plane ride

Wow was I WRONG !! It feels good to be wrong

Can this be like the 87 team that sneaks into the playoffs and goes on a huge run??????

Today was a crazy game. With a minute or so left in the first half, it looked like we were going to head into halftime down. Things flipped around so fast and then spiraled out of control for the Chargers. We did a nice job creating turnovers and seizing momentum when we needed to. Our D made nice adjustments at halftime to disguise blitzes better.

As for our prospects moving forward? We're a good team and we can hang with anyone. Never say never. HUGE game on MNF next week. Can't wait!

Edit to add: An article on Dailynorseman from a couple days ago stated, "Vikings win, Packers win, Cowboys win - 96% chance of making playoffs". Things are sitting much better for us now. What happens if we win out and tie at 12-4 with the Pack? Who wins the division?

Packers have the tie breaker now I believe. They would have only one NFC North loss and we would have two.

[808vikingsfan]

Unfortunately even if we win out, pack still has the tie breaker by virtue of division record (assuming they beat the lions who have basically given up this year )

Vikings could've had a shot at #1 seed if they beat SEA. That was the game they needed to win. It's going to be an uphill battle from the #6 spot

Good win today. Defense stepped up big time today. Offense started slow but finished strong. I don't have much confidence in Cook right now. Feels like he can fumble at any time with his injury. Rather they go with Mattison if he's healthy. Going to be a fun one on Monday.

[J. Kapp 11]

There is a good chance we end up a 12-4 Wild Card team.

This is such a strange season. The Niners lose at home to Atlanta and drop all the way from the No. 1 seed to the No. 5 seed. Meanwhile, the Pukers back into the driver's seat in the North with yet another lackluster win, this time over the Bears. And the Seahawks somehow find themselves at the top of the NFC.

Wild Card or not, I want to see our Vikings put a beat-down on Green Bay next Monday.

[JonPurpleHaze]

Wow, what a win by the Vikes, playoffs, what playoffs? It really hurt rooting for the dang Cowboys but 1 more win we would be in them!

You guys need to remember how special this franchise has been, no super bowl championships but I could be wrong but think we are on the verge of moving into the top 5 for playoff appearances and are in the top 5 for wins since inception.

Wonder if anyone has a stream of KFAN? https://kfan.iheart.com/ usually works but I sometimes have to change my VPN to Minnesota, it isn't working now?

"Uh oh, this page is unavailable!"

[CharVike]

It's never easy winning out west. That's a very nice win for Zim and company. I thought it would be much closer. IMO TOs are always a key to victory. Win that battle and it's very helpful.

[JonPurpleHaze]

Kfan is now working, I'm in Bills country so I can tune them out.

[Maelstrom88]

Great win. That is why the chargers have a losing record. They turn it over way too much. The defense deserves credit for forcing those turnovers. I would say that was the best defensive performance all year. Cook will be alright I think. Just happy it's not a leg injury. They will need him back if they want to make noise in the playoffs. Boone looked good though.

[VikingLord]

There is a good chance we end up a 12-4 Wild Card team.

This is such a strange season. The Niners lose at home to Atlanta and drop all the way from the No. 1 seed to the No. 5 seed. Meanwhile, the Pukers back into the driver's seat in the North with yet another lackluster win, this time over the Bears. And the Seahawks somehow find themselves at the top of the NFC.

Wild Card or not, I want to see our Vikings put a beat-down on Green Bay next Monday.

I wasn't able to watch the Vikings game, but was able to watch the Packer game. My takeaway from that game is that any defense that can force Trubisky to be a pocket QB should be able to beat the Bears. If he can get outside the pocket or is allowed to run, he's dangerous, but keep him in the pocket and he's awful. Late with reads, inaccurate, dumb decisions. The Bear defense also isn't what it was last year. They are prone to giving up big plays, and while they can get pressure, they don't get it consistently. Aaron Rodgers made a lot of questionable decisions IMHO, some of which could have been very costly, but the Bears simply couldn't take advantage of them, both due to their inconsistency on defense and the utter awfulness of their QB.

If the Vikings can't beat this Bears team to finish the season this year, I don't know what to say. The formula for beating them is obvious at this point.

As for the Packers, they continue to be the best worst team I've seen. Rodgers is all over the map, making some really amazing throws and decisions, and then some really amazingly bad decisions. He's getting away with them. On defense, the Packers are like a shotgun blast - when focused, they can be really disruptive, but also prone to just head scratching lapses. They're a team that, between the fortunate bounces, breaks from the refs, and just things seeming to go their way at key moments, is dangerous. Key to beating them is going to be execution on both sides of the ball.

And as for the Chargers, well, any time a team creates turnovers like the Vikings did today they'd better win convincingly. It was nice to see the offense not skip much of a beat without Cook and Mattison at RB. Having the kind of depth the Vikings have at RB is really amazing. I thought the Vikings offense made some nice plays and really kept the pressure on in the 4th. Thielen being back makes a difference too. As for the defense, they were very disruptive and flew around in the secondary. If I have one criticism, it's they didn't do a great job defending on 3rd-and-longs in the first half. They did great on 1st and 2nd downs, but then were giving up big chunks through the air on 3rd downs. They seemed to get that under better control in the 2nd half, but the team won't go far in the playoffs if they can't defend the deeper passes consistently.

Great to win a game like this on the road. Next Monday night is huge. If the Packers are pretenders, this is a great chance to expose them ala what the 49ers did to them a few weeks ago. Kind of sucks that even if the Vikings win that game they could finish as a wildcard and not North champions, but it is what it is.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Great win. Offense was a little shaky at first but got rolling after a while. I'm glad this defense finally stepped up and covered their end for once.

Cousins played well, Boone looked solid in relief (yes YV, Boone played well ), Thielen was quiet but doesnt surprise me, defense was solid (not as much early) but overall great job.

Hunter and Kendricks are co-defensive MVPs IMO. They are both unreal this year.

Side note: I really like what we have in Watts. He made a few decent plays again today. Pretty solid for a 6th round rookie. This rookie class overall has been very solid so far.

-Bradbury has been up and down but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
-Irv is an absolute stud
-Mattison is a stud.
-Samia is an unknown but I'm intrigued
-Cam Smith I would say is a miss right now
-Watts is a huge hit for a 6th rounder
-Epps is gone
-Udoh made the team and is intriguing
-Boyd has been okay as a depth piece/special teamer
-Mitchell on the practice squad
-Bisi Johnson is a huge hit for a 7th rounder
-Cutting has been solid this year

This is a big reason why I like Spielman accumulating picks late. Because of guys like Watts and Bisi. The more late picks you have, the more chance you have to hit on picks. If nobody is there you're dying to get when you're up, accumulate all the picks you can. I know some dont like the strategy but I'm a fan for sure.

[cstelter]

Wow, what a win by the Vikes, playoffs, what playoffs? It really hurt rooting for the dang Cowboys but 1 more win we would be in them!

If the 49ers beat LARams on Saturday we could clinch before we even play another game.

[S197]

Wow, what a win by the Vikes, playoffs, what playoffs? It really hurt rooting for the dang Cowboys but 1 more win we would be in them!

If the 49ers beat LARams on Saturday we could clinch before we even play another game.

Assuming this happens and we lose to the Packers, that makes the Bears game essentially useless right?