Everybody else is referencing Star Wars because of
the new film, so I’m just following suit.
It is a period of uncertainty. A decimated Vikings team has won a moral
victory by simply not getting destroyed on national television by the powerful Arizona
Cardinals.
During the battle, the young team appeared to regain
the confidence thought lost in a devastating encounter with the Seattle
Seahawks.
With the losses fresh in their memory, the Vikings
strive to get healthy for a battle with the Chicago Bears…
Anyway…to celebrate The Force Awakens, I will be
doing a Star Wars-ish intro on the last three blog posts of the regular season.
In spite of losing two Thursdays ago, the Vikings
may have re-discovered the fight within them that got them to 8-3 before losing
twice in a row. Here’s hoping it carries
over into this week, because there are some important things on the line.
First off, because some teams have lost and kept the
NFC playoff picture weak, the Bears are not yet dead in the hunt. Therefore, I expect them to come after the
Vikings with all they’ve got. Jay
Cutler, for the most part, is not making the same old mistakes on which he
staked his claim to fame. On the other
hand, the Bears just lost to the Redskins.
Because of the way things have shaken out over the
past two weeks, even in spite of losing twice, the Vikings can clinch a playoff
spot as early as this week with a win and some help. Typically, people balk at the mention of
needing “help” to make the playoffs, but this is a situation where clinching
early would definitely be welcomed with a prime time game next week (the place
where Minnesota sports dreams go to die) and the looming showdown with Green
Bay (which may or may not decide everything).
In case you care that much about “getting help,” the
Vikings currently have seven, yes seven scenarios
in which they could clinch a playoff spot.
I’m not going to list them here, so head to Vikings.com if you’re
curious.
Adrian Peterson owns the Bears, so I have no doubt
he will get his yards and hopefully a couple of touchdowns, too. What I really want to see is a continuation
of the Arizona game from Teddy Bridgewater.
Despite the final play of that game, Teddy looked great throughout the
evening and showed flashes of the quarterback we all hope he can be. If he can come out and shred the Bears,
there’s a good chance this team goes to 9-5 and possibly clinches a berth
(surely one of those seven things has
to happen, right?).
Above all else, the Vikings need to take care of
business on their own end. All year
long, the Vikings have been a team that knows how to take care of business…at
least against mediocre teams. The Bears
are 5-8; this is no time for a letdown.
The Force has awakened in theaters this weekend…let’s see if our favorite football team can do the same. Is the Force strong in this family?
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