Vikings Playoff Odds Take Slight Dive Despite Win Over the Lions in Week 14

After being dealt a serious blow in a close Week 13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings bounced back with a key divisional win over the Detroit Lions in Week 14.

The Vikings now trail the Green Bay Packers by one game in the NFC North race, but they still hold a one-game lead over the Los Angeles Rams for the No. 6 seed in the NFC.

Took care of business today. #Skol pic.twitter.com/8rAuf3YiB3
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 8, 2019

However, wins from both the Rams and Packers in Week 14 meant that Minnesota only kept pace with its NFC rivals.

Odds of Vikings Making Playoffs

After Week 14, the Vikings are in a commanding position to make the playoffs. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Vikings have -450 odds to make the playoffs and +300 to miss out.

Minnesota already holds a strong position in the NFC Wild Card race, and the Vikings are 2.5-point road favorites over the 5-8 Los Angeles Chargers in Week 15. With a win this Sunday, Minnesota could even be in a position to take the NFC North lead with a win over the Packers at home in Week 16 before closing out the regular season in Minneapolis against the Chicago Bears in Week 17.

If Seahawks beat Vikings tomorrow night, Packers can lose to Vikings in Minnesota in Week 16 and still win NFC North. Assuming Vikings and Packers both finish 12-4 (GB would need to beat Wash at home, Chi at home, Det on road), GB would win tiebreaker based on division record.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) December 2, 2019

Vikings fans should still be quite confident, however, as Football Outsiders still says their team has an 80.8 percent chance of making the playoffs. That has fallen by 5.3 percent since last week, but the Vikings avoided disaster by taking care of business against the Lions.

The Vikings also currently hold the tiebreaker over the Rams, thanks to a 7-3 record against NFC teams.

While the Vikings could only hold serve in Week 14, they still control their own destiny down the stretch, and they are currently the clear favorites to make the playoffs over the Rams.

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Tristan Jung is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Tristan Jung also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username tristan1117. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.