How much did the Vikings playoff chances increase after Monday night?
By Adam Patrick
The Minnesota Vikings have set themselves back up for a run at the playoffs.
Heading into their bye with a 1-5 record, there wasn’t a ton of hope surrounding the Minnesota Vikings. It seemed like the season was already over for the Vikings and looking ahead to 2021 was something that they should’ve begun to do.
But Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer decided that he wasn’t going to let his team ever give up hope and since that 1-5 start, the Vikings have now won three games in a row to improve their record to 4-5.
The optimism is back for Minnesota and now they feel like they can compete with just about anyone in the NFL. With seven games to go, do the Vikings have what it takes to earn a spot in this season’s NFC playoff bracket?
Minnesota Vikings see their playoff chances improve after Monday night win
For the third week in a row, Minnesota was able to leave their matchup with a victory. This time it came against the Chicago Bears in a venue, Soldier Field, where the Vikings have been historically bad during the last two decades.
Following Minnesota’s win over the Bears, I was joined by fellow TVA staff member Dustin Baker on the latest episode of The Viking Age Podcast to recap the events from the evening.
Unsurprisingly, the Vikings have seen their playoff chances experience a nice increase after their impressive win on Monday night. FiveThirtyEight now has Minnesota with a 37 percent chance to earn a postseason berth this year and Football Outsiders has the purple and gold with a 19.9 percent chance to sneak into the playoffs.
These percentages are still too low to get excited about the Vikings actually earning a spot in the postseason this year. But these numbers will only continue to increase if Minnesota keeps winning and playing as they have been during their last three games.
Make sure to subscribe to The Viking Age Podcast (Apple – Spotify – Google) for reactions to the latest Vikings news and rumors in addition to interviews with current and former Minnesota players.