The Boy® was watching Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade this past Thursday. I was telling him that the Vikings would be in New York on Sunday to play the Giants. The Boy®, usually a mountain of knowledge on anything Vikings was fixated on the Radio City Rockettes, and uttered, “A lot of tall, skinny and pretty women. That’s got to be pretty hard to find, you know what I’m saying?”

Even members of my family had written off the Vikings playoff chances this season.

My early Sunday sermon on this very blog had been to predict (albeit loosely) a Vikings victory over Big Boo Hoo, er Big Blue, and an eventual 9-7 record with a NFC Wild Card appearance. I could hear the laughter all the way from the swamps of New Jersey.

After a stunning 41-17 victory combined with some additional gifts such as the Arizona OT loss to the 49ers, I think the laughter is dying down a bit. Here is my post Week 12 final NFC playoff picture:

1) Dallas
2) Green Bay
3) Seattle
4) Tampa Bay
5) N.Y. Giants
6) Vikings

I still have the Vikings finishing up with a 9-7 record. The road will be tough but even an 8-8 record has a chance to be that 6th team. And there will be plenty of key games for Vikings fans to watch in the coming weeks.

Week 13

Buffalo at Washington: You are a Bills fan for this one
Giants at Chicago: Hope Eli can bounce back in a big way
Cleveland at Arizona: Bring the Dawg Pound to Arizona and cheer for the Browns

Week 14

Chicago at Washington: You cheer against the team that won in Week 13 or hope for a tie
Dallas at Detroit: Here’s to T.O. continuing the Lions slide
Giants at Philly: Two weeks in a row cheering for Eli and the Giants

Week 15

Arizona at New Orleans: You probably will cheer against the Saints in this one
Detroit at San Diego: How many games in a row can the Lions lose?
Philly at Dallas: Root against the Eagles
Washington at Giants: Pretty clear by now we want the Giants to run the table

Week 16

Philly at New Orleans: Too far out to know which team we want. We do know it will be important.
Washington at Minnesota: All the Vikes games will be important. But this is the one to circle.

Week 17

Dallas at Washington: Go Cowboys!
Buffalo at Philly: Go Bills!
New Orleans at Chicago: Go, oh Hell, I don’t know any more.
Detroit at Green Bay: Go…..don’t say it. Just smile to yourself when the Pack wins

Right now I have the Vikes as the 6th seed traveling to Seattle to open up the Wild Card playoffs. A very winnable game. The Vikes can afford to drop one game, maybe two. But this team who has leading run offense and run defense will be on every analyst’s lips as the sixth seed favorite. Bunching up behind the Vikes will be:

8-8 Record

Philadelphia (hold tie-breaker over Vikes)

7-9 Records

Detroit
Washington
New Orleans
Arizona

And don’t forget about the Bears but the Vikes do hold the tie-breaker currently.

So hold on tight. It’s going to be a bumpy ride. As long as the Vikes play to their potential in the coming weeks we’ll get at least one more game this season during the Wild-card round, Jan. 5-6. Even The Boy® was back talking Purple Sunday night….in a sense. He had to let me know that “Thursday was named after Thor, the Greek god in Viking time”. Close enough for me. Let’s hope the coming games aren’t close and we have a few more victories like the one against the Giants.

Did You Know?

Question: Why is there a green sticker on the back of each NFL quarterback's helmet?
Answer: This sticker shows which players have the radio receiver from the sidelines transmitter. Only one radio is allowed on the field.

Play Survival Football: Last chance for playing Survival football. This game will start this coming weekend (wk 13). Pick one team to win each week. Once you've used a team, you can't use them again! Good Luck! In order to join the group, just go to Survival Football, click the "Sign Up" button and choose to "Join an Existing Group", then "Join a Private Group". Then, when prompted, enter the following information...

Group ID#: 37612
Password: ad296

Posted by maasx003 at November 26, 2007 01:51 AM