The Vikings are on bye week in Week 12.
This is an opportunity for you to do yard work, do some holiday shopping, or, to the dismay of your family members, stay inside and cheer for teams you have no affiliation with!
Here’s your Week 12 guide on who to cheer for in games that could affect the Vikings’ playoff positioning.
Seahawks (8-2) at Eagles (5-5), Noon CT
There are two ways to think of this. You could think about just getting the Eagles out of the wild card hunt, even though the Eagles are 2.5 games behind the Vikings.
Or, you could think of it as the Vikings being able to leapfrog the Seahawks with a Seattle loss this week and a Vikings win over the Seahawks in Week 13. That could also put the Vikings in first-round bye territory.
Go Eagles, I guess.
Panthers (5-5) at Saints (8-2), Noon CT
Same concept here. The Panthers are barely hanging in the playoff picture. It would be nice to get rid of potential threats. But again, you should probably aim for higher than just making the playoffs if you’re a Vikings fan. A Saints loss would put the Vikings and Saints both at 8-3 and could be the difference in who hosts a wild card playoff game.
Kyle Allen for life!
Giants (2-8) at Bears (4-6), Noon CT
The Bears have a one percent chance to make the playoffs. They probably have to win out in order to make it. Let’s go, Danny Dimes! Knock Chicago out of the playoff picture!
Cowboys (6-4) at Patriots (9-1), 3:25 CT
If the Eagles were to make a run in the NFC East, the more losses the Cowboys have, the better for the rest of the potential playoff teams.
The Vikings already have the tiebreaker over the Cowboys and the Eagles. If the Cowboys fall to 6-5, they’d be three games back (basically four with the tiebreaker), which would likely put them out of striking distant from the Vikings in any scenario.
Here we go, TB12!
Packers (8-2) at 49ers (9-1), SNF
The Vikings are just a half game back from the Packers in the NFC North battle for first, but Green Bay has the tiebreaker.
A Packers loss would tie things up in the North and could make the Week 16 battle between the two teams one for not only the NFC North, but for a first-round bye.
In George Kittle we trust.
Ravens (8-2) at Rams (6-4), MNF
The Rams have a 25 percent to make the playoffs, but that number falls to 16 percent with a loss to the Ravens. Jared Goff has looked lost as of late, while Lamar Jackson has made opposing defenses looking lost.
Here’s to Lamar keeping up his MVP campaign and separating the Vikings and Rams even more.