A Three Step Blueprint to a Playoff Run

Okay, having your favorite football team at 1-3 flat out sucks. There's no getting around that. And in the preseason if you told me that the Vikes would be 1-3 and the NFC North Division leader was 4-1, I'd be ready to hit the panic button.

But, let's just calm down and relax.

The NFC North Division leaders are the Chicago Bears led by Todd Collins with an absolutely awful offense that is not capable of contending for a championship; and the Green Bay Packers have massive injury problems starting with their quarterback who has a concussion and will either miss some time or might not be the same for a few weeks. They also lost their running back and have not found an answer to replace that production.

Now, when Rodgers and Cutler are healthy, those teams improve dramatically. But with a RB in GB and with the Bears offensive line issues, I don't think either team is capable of running away with the division.

And the Vikings, at 1-3, are not that bad of a 1-3 team. All three losses were within a play of being a win (sorry to sound like Tim Brewster, but this statement applies much more to the Vikes than the Gophers). Their three losses are to teams who either are playoff-bound or will be in the playoff picture come December. At New Orleans and at NY Jets are both quality losses, and although we had to have that Miami game at the dome, that's a quality football team as well. Plus, with two of the three losses going out of the conference to AFC teams, that could help later as well.

I'm certainly not saying the Vikings played to how we expect them to in any of the three losses. They didn't, and they lost those games for reasons that were within their control. That makes it even more frustrating as a fan. It's what we as Vikings fans go through every year, and it sucks!

But the fact remains that they are capable of playing better football, I'd like to see what happens when they put together a complete game.

I think nine or ten wins COULD win this division. Obviously that could change, but this early in the season it's certainly a possibility.

So, let's figure out how the Vikings can get to that 9-10 win range with realistic goals based on how the team has played, and how they can be expected to improve with Moss getting acclimated with the offense and the potential return of Sidney Rice...

1. Go a minimum of 5-1 against the NFC North. The Vikings are 1-0 against the division with a win over lowly Detroit. The Lions are flat out not a good football team, and we took care of that game. It was kind of ugly, but not as ugly as the Bears "win" against them at Soldier Field... I maintain the fact that the Bears and Packers are not very good, partly because of injuries (Ryan Grant, Rodgers, Cutler, etc.) and partly because they just aren't that good (Bears offensive line). Splitting the Soldier/Lambeau away games, winning out at home and beating Detroit again gets us to 5-1. I think we still can sweep the division, but that's an unrealistic expectation for how the team is played, so we'll stick with 5-1.

The 5-1 against the NFC North gets the purple to 5-4.

2. Beat Dallas and Buffalo at home and win at Arizona. These are very realistic expectations for this team. Buffalo is awful, Dallas is coming to the Dome next week in a "must win" for both teams, but at the Dome and with Dallas' problems I like a big win next week. Arizona has a horrible QB situation, if we can't win these three games and go 5-1 against the division, we don't deserve a playoff run anyway.

That three game parlay gets us to 8-4.

3. Out of the remaining four games, the squad needs one or two of the other four games: at New England, at Washington, Giants at home, at Philadelphia. I think the Giants at home and at Washington get us into the playoffs, and we won't choke at Washington like Green Bay did (DOINK!).

By the time we play at Washington and the Giants at home, we have Sidney back, and hopefully Favre is doped on pain meds and has a cortisone shot per week so his elbow feels 20 years younger!

Let's not forget that this team is capable of winning at Philly and at New England, and is capable of sweeping the division. I hate to say that we need that Green Bay game in Lambeau in two weeks, but it could get us to 3-3 if we take care of the Cowboys at the dome.

We need to be 3-3, and will need to pick up a win against the Packers to gain some momentum on the green and gold. A loss there would be a set back, but not season ending. It just gives the team ZERO margin for error the rest of the way.

They already have a very minimal margin for error after the hole they put themselves in. Looking at the schedule in the preseason, I thought we'd be 2-2 right now, that Miami loss hurts but at 1-3 it's not the end of the season.

So I plead with my fellow Viking fans to stay on the ship, don't jump off yet, and if you do - don't get back on, because this division is still there for the taking!