Vikings clinching scenarios and race for the No. 1 seed
A locker room champagne celebration nears for the Minnesota Vikings as they could clinch the NFC North this Sunday, though the bigger goal of claiming the No. 1 seed and paving the road to the Super Bowl through Minneapolis requires far more work.
The Vikings can clinch the North by beating the Jets coupled with a Lions loss or tie against the Jaguars. That scenario would put the Vikings at 10-2 while the Lions would be 4-8 or 4-7-1. The Packers already have eight losses so they're dead with one more loss or one more Vikings win.
If the Lions beat the Jags, the soonest Minnesota could clinch is Dec. 11 when the division foes meet in the Motor City.
In the Super Bowl era, only six teams have clinched their division with five weeks to play, and five of the six went on to play in the Super Bowl, according to NFL research analyst Joe Ferreira.
Let's say the Vikings lose to the Jets and the Lions beat the Jags and Vikings. That would put Minnesota at 9-4 and the Lions at 6-7 with four games to go. More interesting, but still a tremendous advantage for the Vikings.
So, yeah. It's just matter of time before the Vikings are crowned champs.
Philly, Vikings, Cowboys racing for No. 1 seed
The race for the first-round bye as the No. 1 seed in the NFC looks like it'll come down to Eagles, Vikings and Cowboys.
With six weeks to go Philly is 10-1, Minnesota is 9-2 and Dallas is 8-3. Philly owns head-to-head wins over the Vikings and Cowboys, so they're in the driver's seat. But they have to play the Cowboys in Dallas on Christmas Eve and their schedule down the stretch is far from easy.
In fact, Philly's remaining strength of schedule is a .529 win percentage, ranking 12th-hardest in the NFL. Dallas is 16th at .507, while the Vikings have a far easier slate, ranking 27th at .434.
The Eagles host the Titans this week and then hit the road for three straight against the Giants, Bears and Cowboys before closing the season at home against the Saints and Giants.
The Vikings host the Jets this week and then go to Detroit. Then it's two at home versus the Colts and Giants, followed by January road games in Green Bay and Chicago.
The Cowboys should roll in their next two at home against the Texans and Colts. Then it gets challenging with games against the Jaguars, Eagles, Titans and Commanders.
