Why Monday’s game in Seattle is Minnesota’s last stand

The Minnesota Vikings have a great chance of making the playoffs even if they lose on Monday, but a win would help inspire optimism as they head down the stretch.

On Monday night, the Minnesota Vikings will take on the Seattle Seahawks in a game that has plenty of postseason implications. As the Vikings head into this matchup, they are currently sitting in a great spot in the NFC playoff picture thanks to a weekend in which almost all of their competition for one of the two wild card spots lost.

Sunday’s series of events gives Minnesota some breathing room heading into this important showdown. However, that doesn’t mean that the Vikings can let off the gas. That’s because Seattle’s CenturyLink Field is where Minnesota will make their last stand of the 2018 season.

To make sense of this, let’s go back to August.

The Vikings were a team that had Super Bowl aspirations. They had a defense that was the top unit in the NFL last year and they added plenty of talent through free agency (Kirk Cousins and Sheldon Richardson) and the Draft (Mike Hughes) to help take a team that had reached the 2017 NFC Championship to their first Super Bowl appearance in over 40 years.

Since that optimistic training camp, things have fallen apart for Minnesota. The offensive line was more of a weakness than Rick Spielman had anticipated and other areas such as health and special teams have been a death sentence in several scenarios. Still, the Vikings sit at 6-5-1 with a great chance of making the playoffs.

That’s where Monday night comes into play. As Minnesota enters this game against the Seahawks, they still have yet to defeat a team with a winning record this season.

Seattle has been a good team as of late, building a three-game winning streak that has thrust them into the playoff picture, but they’re not a team that the Vikings should consider to be unbeatable.

A win against the Seahawks would do wonders for a Minnesota team that hasn’t had the same swagger that they had this time a year ago. The Vikings need to show that they’re not only a team that can sneak into the back door of the playoffs, but one that has the ability to make some noise while they are there.

Monday is the Minnesota’s last chance to show that they can live up to their lofty preseason expectations. Otherwise, they will just be going through the motions in a rugged NFC field.