THE Sunday of the season

Great finishes. Results you want.

Those two things almost never occur simultaneously, and certainly not in bulk. But on the 14th Sunday of this NFL season they sure as hell did. Well, until the night game, but I can't be too greedy.

My focus is fixed on the Vikings playoff chase. And from looking at schedules I thought this was probably the last week things could kind of go badly for us. The 3 teams sitting right behind us at 6-6 all had winnable games. And we have this tricky game at Seattle tomorrow. The odds the Vikings would finish the week out of the playoffs seemed pretty likely.

But we got a whole afternoon of good fortune. The Redskins, who probably were doomed anyway with a 3rd string QB, were completely destroyed by the Giants. The free-falling Panthers lost at Cleveland. And now they get the Saints 2 of the last 3 weeks. And best of all, at the end of an infuriating game that Dallas seemed destined to blow, they came through in OT to beat the Eagles, probably our biggest threat for a wild card. We even got a Saints comeback win over Tampa, further burying the Bucs. Yeah, the Packers won, but at this point who cares? Our cushion for a playoff spot got an enormous boost with these results.

Now, the Rams did us no favors with a turd of a performance tonight. Realistically this probably removes the division title as a possibility, unless we win out and the Packers rise.up next week. But I kind of conceded the division anyway after the loss to the Bears. Who knows, we may even get a 3rd shot at them.

But the day wasn't just great for helping the Vikings wild card hopes. We also had an amazing series of plays in two stadiums that may prove to be what spares us of yet another Patriots super bowl.
The Chiefs were in a real dogfight with Baltimore, while the Dolphins were hanging with the Patriots. And it looked like both were gonna go the wrong way late. It looked like the Pats were going to take over that #1 seed, and that we were already going to be assured of them having another easy ride to the super bowl.
But Pat Mahomes converted a crazy 4th and 9 to stay alive, then another 4th down for the tying TD. It went to OT and the Chiefs prevailed.
Meanwhile the Dolphins pulled off the most miraculous play since the Minneapolis Miracle, and tbh it was even MORE unlikely than Keenum to Diggs. The multi lateral, run around the field play. That dumb play that we constantly see at the ends of games, that never works. The only time it had ever worked in an NFL game was Saints v Jags in 2003, and even that got ruined by the PAT being missed. But to have it happen to the Patriots, and to have that dumbfuck Gronkowski be the one to blow the.last chance at a tackle....amazing. The swing from the AFC basically being over, to the Chiefs now being very big favorites for HFA, was really incredible.

We even had crazy games in Oakland, where the Steelers almost got their own miracle but ended up blowing another game they had no business losing, and Houston, where the Colts woke up and ended the Texans win streak.

And I wonder if all the "We should have kept Keenum" people still feel that way after the Broncos win streak crashed to a halt in San Francisco.

Monday night matters, a lot. But with the division now even less likely and a wild card more likely, it is hardly a must win. A win, and the Vikings are 2 up on the field with 3 to go, and we have the easier schedule. A loss, and we're still 1 up with 3 to go, with the easier schedule. It really is that close now. No way of knowing if we're better off as the 5 seed or 6 seed. I would probably prefer going to Dallas over Chicago, but it's out of our hands where the Bears and Cowboys finish.