Must win?

There was much fear and loathing amongst Vikings Nation after getting thoroughly dominated by the Arizona Cardinals this past Sunday. Add on top of that some haughtiness displayed by our Spinach and Lemon Green & Gold neighbors to the east, and you actually have some intrigue in the NFC North race.

My how things have changed in just over a month.

After finishing off a sweep of the Green Bay Packers on November 1, the Vikings were sitting pretty with a 7-1 record going into their bye week. Then without even playing a game in week nine, the Vikes expanded their division lead to three full games (essentially four games with Minnesota owning the tiebreaker advantage) when the Pack lost to the 0-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Packer Nation was in a veritable meltdown after that, as there were calls for the heads of GM Ted Thompson, head coach Fred Flintstone Mike McCarthy and defensive coordinator Dom Capers. It would have been difficult to believe that the Vikings would have ever been in a "must win" situation until the postseason.

But since that fateful week nine loss, the Packers have seemingly righted the ship. They have won four consecutive games and are now statistically the top ranked defense in the NFL. Combine that with the fact the quarterback Aaron Rodgers has survived the poor offensive line play (sacked 43 times in the first ten games; only twice the past two) and the Pack has once again emerged as a threat to be thumped by the New Orleans Saints in the NFC title game in the postseason.

My take is I'm assuming the Packers will run the table in their remaining four games, which are at Chicago, at Pittsburgh, hosting Seattle and at Arizona. If that is the case, Green Bay will finish with a 12-4 record. So for the Vikings (10-2) to win the division (and wrap up a first round bye) they must go at least 2-2 against the remaining schedule of hosting Cincinnati, at Carolina, at Chicago and hosting the New York Giants. And if the Vikings can't manage that record in their last four contests then I don't believe they're worthy of the division title, much less for people to take them seriously as a Super Bowl contender.

And if indeed the Packers beat the lousy Bears and the Vikes lose to the Bengals this week, the panic will increase amongst Vikings fans while the Purple's margin for error significantly decreases.

-------------------------------------------