Only the Minnesota Vikings can go 14-3 in a season and leave their fans feeling disappointed at the end of it.
In their winner-take-all battle for the NFC North Title and top seed in the postseason last night the Vikings had their worst performance of the year.
Minnesota’s offense turned the ball over on downs twice inside the Detroit three yardline, Sam Darnold went just 18-41 through the air, and the Vikings could only muster three field goals.
Though their defense kept them in it Detroit eventually pulled away to win 31-9 on the strength of Jahmyr Gibbs four touchdown performance.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell said though he, his staff and team didn’t play or coach to their standard in a playoff atmosphere, the Vikings can use it now that the actual postseason is upon them.
“I think we can use the experience of yesterday to make sure that we can have immediate improvement and total reflection and understanding of personal responsibility of what took place. But it was just one football game. A very impactful game, for sure, but we’re very excited to be in the tournament.” O’Connell said on Monday.
And their first game of the NFL Playoffs will be against a familiar opponent, the NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams, who handed the Vikings one of their other three losses back on October 24th at SoFi Stadium, 30-20.
That’s where the Vikings will head once again, even though Minnesota has a better record, due to division champions automatically get home games and higher seeds.
You can watch it a week from tonight (Monday, January 13th) on Dakota News Now and KSFY at 7:00 PM.