Standings Update: Vikings' Lead in NFC North Continues to Widen
October was a pretty perfect month for the Minnesota Vikings.
Not only did they go 4-0 — cementing an undefeated month with a victory over the Cardinals — the division around them fell apart, too. With the Packers losing to the Bills on Sunday night, each of the other three teams in the NFC North lost four games during October.
The Packers, who have lost four in a row, went 1-4. The Bears, who gave up 49 points in a loss to the Cowboys on Sunday, went 1-4. The Lions went 0-4.
Eight weeks into the 2022 season, the Vikings have a 3.5-game lead over both the Packers and Bears. They also have a tiebreaker over both teams, who they'll see on the road in January.
What that means is it would take a major Vikings collapse for them not to win the NFC North this season. If Minnesota simply goes 5-5 in its final ten games, the Packers or Bears would have to go at least 8-1 in their final nine games to have a chance at a tiebreaker.
Among their final ten games, the Vikings play four against teams who currently have losing records, two against 4-4 teams, and four against teams with winning records. They still have five games left at U.S. Bank Stadium, where they're 4-0 in the Kevin O'Connell era.
Heading into Week 9, FiveThirtyEight gives the Vikings a 93 percent chance to win their division, highest of any team in the NFL. Winning your division guarantees a home playoff game in the first round.
Of course, the Vikings aren't thinking about the standings or the big picture. They're focused on each individual game and trying to continuously improve. This week will be about correcting mistakes from the Cardinals game and preparing for a road matchup with a Commanders team that has won three in a row.
But that doesn't mean we can't think about it. All of a sudden, the question might be less about whether or not the Vikings can win the NFC North and more about what seed they can end up with heading into the playoffs.
Right now, the Vikings have a 1.5-game lead over the Seahawks for the No. 2 seed. They're still a game and a head-to-head tiebreaker behind the Eagles for the No. 1 seed and the first-round bye it comes with, but who knows what could happen?
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