EAGAN, Minn. -- The Minnesota Vikings' charmed season could hit its first tangible benefit this weekend. If two reasonable outcomes fall in their favor, the Vikings will become the season's first team to win a division title.
And whether it happens this Sunday or next, their inevitable clinching will usher in a decidedly unexpected circumstance: At least a month of games will remain with little to play for other than a position or two in the 2022 NFC playoff seeding. No one in the Vikings organization is ready to address it publicly, but it would be a rare and potentially useful turn of events for a franchise that has concentrated its playing time within a relatively small circle of players -- and is also in the first season of what general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has called a "competitive rebuild.