The Vikings Are Singing A Different Tune After Losing to the Bears..

In the hours before the trade deadline, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah sat in his office trying to decide what to do with the Minnesota Vikings.

This didn’t stop Vikings fans from enjoying Dobbs’ first two outings for Minnesota. By leading the team to a 6-4 record and the driver’s seat in the Wild Card playoff race, fans were looking ahead – or in this case, counting their money – to the type of playoff run the Wilfs have dreamed about.

The prime example is that of the 2007 New York Giants. After entering the playoffs with a 9-7 record, the Giants pulled off three-straight upsets on the road with wins in Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Green Bay before the most improbable upset in NFL history against the 18-0 New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

The goal of just getting into the playoffs has been the ethos of the franchise but also comes with some flaws. While a team could theoretically get hot, it’s more likely that the superior squad with home-field advantage wins.

In the last 20 years, 21 of the 40 teams involved in the Super Bowl had home-field advantage in the playoffs, and 72.5% of participants were either No. 1 or No. 2 seeds. Of the 20 champions, five were ranked as a fourth seed or lower and only two of them (2005 Pittsburgh Steelers and 2010 Green Bay Packers) won the Super Bowl as a six-seed.

Even relying on those outliers, they all had things the Vikings lack, including a quarterback. While Nick Foles was able to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl in 2017, he was also at the helm of a juggernaut that had earned home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

If Dobbs had stepped in and led the Vikings, there was a good chance they would have been in a Wild Card spot and get buried behind legitimate NFC contenders in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Detroit. With the football gods hinting that this wasn’t their year, Adofo-Mensah pushed his chips to the table while holding an off-suit No. 2 and No. 5 card.

After Monday’s loss to the Bears, the most likely outcome is that they sneak into the playoffs and get smashed by a true contender. It almost doesn’t seem worth forging ahead.

No NFL team is willing to tank – especially one with Flores as their defensive coordinator – but the chance to lean into the future was there. Instead, the Vikings remain in purgatory with 12 of the last 20 seasons ending between seven and 10 wins and not even a Super Bowl appearance to show for it.

It’s not as appealing when you consider the other path Adofo-Mensah could have chosen. By staying pat, the Vikings could have ridden things out and received a higher draft pick. While draft success has some randomness built into it (ask the Carolina Panthers), the chances of landing a franchise quarterback are far higher in the upper half of the board and don’t require the significant draft capital to trade up into a favorable spot.