On January 5th, the Minnesota Vikings suffered a loss against the Detroit Lions, losing the chance to win the NFC North division as well as to earn the first seed in the NFC. The Vikings will now be the 5th seed in the NFC playoffs and will face off against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football in Los Angeles.
Minnesota’s offense was disappointing to watch on Sunday. Every time the Minnesota offense had the ball, they would fall short or miss opportunities. The Minnesota offense was in the end zone 4 times but failed to score touchdowns and was 0-3 in goal-to-go situations. Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell talked about the missed opportunities.
“I thought we had some opportunities, and then some other times they did some good things in man coverage and got us off our first or second reads,” O’Connell said. “We didn’t put the ball in the end zone at a level we’ve been doing—you know, we’ve been at a pretty strong clip down there, finishing with touchdowns over the last six, seven weeks or so. And that did not happen tonight.”
As for the Minnesota defense, they had a strong start, holding the Lions to only 10 points in the first half; however, in the second half, they let Detroit score 21 points. Vikings safety Harrison Smith said this about the Minnesota defense.
“We were just executing our assignments, nothing magical—setting edges, tackling, playing good coverage,” Smith said, noting Detroit made smart adjustments. “We’ve just got to do it all four quarters.”
While it was a difficult loss to accept, The Vikings will head into the playoffs as the 5th seed, facing off against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football. The game will be hosted by the Rams, but due to wildfires occurring in Los Angeles, the game may be moved to Arizona.
The playoff game is expected to be close, as the Vikings and the Rams played against each other earlier in the season on October 24th, with the Rams winning 30-20. The Vikings ultimately have the superior record, however, 14-3, compared to the Rams’ 10-7. Clearly, this will be an exciting, close game.
