Because it’s that time of year and because Minnesota teams have a habit of never making things easy, here is a look at five things to know and/or remember about the Vikings and this year’s NFL playoff chase:
1) The Vikings still control their own destiny when it comes to winning their division. (This is an overused term in sports, making things sound more dramatic than they really are, but still). If Minnesota wins its next three games, including Week 17 at Lambeau Field, it will be guaranteed of winning the NFC North.
Why? Because even if the Packers also win the next two games to maintain their one-game lead over the Vikings going into Week 17 (Green Bay is 9-4 after beating Dallas, while the Vikings fell to 8-5 with their loss to Arizona), if the Vikings win and tie the Packers at 11-5 in that scenario they win the division because of the second tiebreaker, a better division record.