The Minnesota Vikings have many hypothetical situations in front of them going into week 16 of the NFL season, but should focus on one game at a time.
The media (including bloggers like myself) get far too caught up in the “what if” scenarios around the NFL. With the NFL playoffs rapidly approaching and the battle for the NFC North crown still happening, the amount of intrigue surrounding the Minnesota Vikings has reached a point where speculation is running wild about what will happen in certain scenarios.
One of the most discussed situations is what will happen if the Green Bay Packers lose to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday prior to the Vikings game against the Giants.
In the event of a Packers loss against Arizona, the game between Green Bay and Minnesota would be for the NFC North championship no matter what the outcome of the Giants game is on Sunday Night Football. That led beat reports to ask multiple questions about what would happen if that situations happened. Here is how head coach Mike Zimmer replied according to an article on Vikings.com:
"“If guys are ready to play, they’ll play,” Zimmer said on Thursday."
But that didn’t tell that whole story. Later on, Zimmer admitted that he might sit some players if they are still recovering from injury but were a borderline decision to play in Sunday’s game, contradicting his earlier statement.
"“If a guy is iffy health-wise and we’re already in the playoffs, I may sit him for another week but that’s a fine line because I don’t want guys to be rusty going into Green Bay and have bad momentum,” Zimmer said."
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However, the most interesting thing is that Zimmer used the word “playoffs” in that quote. Previously, he was talking to the media about the importance of hanging an NFC North banner in the TCF Bank Stadium, but didn’t mention that as a factor in deciding whether or not to sit players.
It is likely that this was just an oversight at the moment and there is no way that the Minnesota Vikings would risk winning an NFC North title by sitting players if the Packers defeat the Cardinals even if Minnesota secures a playoff spot before then.
Paying too much attention to the “what if” scenarios and situations can drive people mad. Much of the time, overthinking situations can be a bad thing, and making plans based on those hypotheticals can be tedious and take time away from more pressing issues.
The Minnesota Vikings will need to focus on winning every single game for the rest of the season. That way, Minnesota won’t have to worry about what happens based on the results of other games. Take it one week at a time, game plan, and execute.