Minnesota Vikings hang on, ensure Week 18 matchup with Detroit Lions will be for all the NFC's marbles
Santa Clara, Calif. — Regardless of the outcome of the Detroit Lions’ Monday night showdown with the San Francisco 49ers, next week’s home game against the Minnesota Vikings will carry the loftiest of stakes.
With a victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, the Vikings’ back half of the NFC North home-and-home with the Lions will not only determine the division, but the conference’s No. 1 seed and the bye week attached to it.
And because division winners earn the conference’s top-four seeds, the loser of next week's contest, despite owning the second-best record in the NFC, will drop to the fifth seed, with the strong likelihood of not hosting a single home game this postseason.
The Vikings holding on to top the Packers unquestionably takes some shine off Monday's anticipated rematch of last year’s NFC Championship, with the result no longer impacting Detroit’s playoff positioning and the 49ers already eliminated from postseason contention.
But don’t think for a second that Lions coach Dan Campbell has any intention of letting his foot off the gas or resting any of his starters. He cleared that up, emphatically, earlier in the week.
“Yeah, I’ll make this easy for everybody, that way all the critics can jump out and start attacking, but that way you don’t have to debate them anymore,” Campbell said. “We’re bringing everything we have to this game, and we are playing. I don’t care what it looks like, where it’s at, or who’s this, who’s that. We’re going out to play to win this game out on the West Coast. So, there you go.”
Next week's matchup also has the potential to decide who wins the NFL Coach of the Year. Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell, who has wildly exceeded preseason expectations with reclamation project Sam Darnold under center, entered Sunday as the betting favorite (-280). Campbell (+350), despite helping his team overcome unmatched injury woes this season, came into the weekend a distant second.
If the Lions beat the 49ers on Monday, they and the Vikings will enter the Week 18 matchup at Ford Field with identical 14-2 records. One of the Vikings’ two losses came to the Lions in Week 7, 31-29, at U.S. Bank Stadium.
It would be the first time in NFL history a 14-win team didn’t win its division. In 1999, when the league played a 16-game regular season, the Tennessee Titans lost the AFC South after going 13-3. They fell a game shy of the 14-2 Jacksonville Jaguars that year, despite handing their division foe both their regular-season defeats.
The Titans also got the last laugh, topping the Jaguars a third time in the AFC Championship.
The game time for the Week 18 matchup between the Lions and Vikings remains TBD, but it’s a near-lock to be flexed to Sunday Night Football on Jan. 5. That announcement could come as soon as this Sunday night.
Update: The Lions/Vikings game was announced for Sunday Night Football next week following the conclusion of the Commanders/Falcons game.
You gotta give all credit to the Packers...0-5 against all the NFC teams that matter.😉
Someone, help me have some hope. I just don’t see how we can hang with them given all the injuries. The Bears are one thing, but Minnesota just seems so well-rounded and balanced and they’re basically fully healthy. I’m having a hard time seeing a reason to believe.