The Minnesota Vikings have dealt with a roller-coaster of a season thanks to a host of injuries. They lost Justin Jefferson to a hamstring injury, but more notably, lost starting quarterback Kirk Cousins to a torn Achilles.
Joshua Dobbs took over and impressed initially, but has come back to earth. After the Vikings won his first two starts, they lost to the Broncos and Bears before Dobbs was benched for Nick Mullens in a 3-0 win over the Raiders last week. They’re 7-6 and holding one of the wild card berths heading into Week 15, but they face some serious issues coming down the stretch.
Minnesota Vikings current odds
DraftKings odds: To make playoffs — Yes -120, No -110; NFC North odds — +650
DVOA playoff odds: 69.6%
ESPN FPI: 64.3%
NY Times odds: 59%
Upcoming Schedule
Week 15: @ Bengals
Week 16: vs. Lions
Week 17: vs. Packers
Week 18: @ Lions
The Vikings barely beat the Raiders and now face four tough matchups the rest of the way. Traveling to Cincinnati is looking tougher with Jake Browning impressing since Joe Burrow was lost for the season. It’s possible Browning turns into another Dobbs, but for now, he’s impressing.
It then turns into a divisional stretch against the Lions, Packers, and Lions once again. If the Vikings are going to make the playoffs, they’ll have to earn it in a big way. They could go anywhere from 0-4 in this coming stretch to maybe 3-1. Given their recent performances, no wins or one win seem more likely.
Final record prediction: 8-9
Current NFC playoff standings
Verdict
The Vikings will not make the playoffs, but it will be close. Nick Mullens is not much of an upgrade over Joshua Dobbs and the rest of the schedule is a little too difficult for a questionable Vikings squad. They could squeeze in if the NFC West or NFC South teams hanging around split too many games, but I think Minnesota comes up short in a month.