While the Vikings will close their season with back-to-back games against the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, the three-week run of NFC North matchups they’re about to begin could have as much to say as anything else about where they’ll finish in the division.
And if recent history is a reliable indicator, the Vikings’ two matchups against perhaps their lowest-profile division foe might make the difference on whether they or the Detroit Lions wind up in the playoffs.
In the three years Mike Zimmer and Jim Caldwell have coached their respective teams, the Vikings-Lions games have been the pivot points for each team’s season, while helping to forge a spicy little rivalry between the teams.