Vikings In Playoffs. Now What?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The Minnesota Vikings ended the NFL regular season with a 44-7 blowout of the New York Giants on Sunday, but that hasn't stopped the question marks that began surfacing about their chances in the playoffs.  Even though they won the NFC North, they only got the number two seed courtesy of the Dallas Cowboys, who shut out the Philadelphia Eagles in one of the late games.  Over the past month, it's become increasingly clear that the Vikings are hothouse flowers--that is, they're undefeated at home inside a dome, but have a losing record in the Great Outdoors.  Especially when it's freezing.

You can't say that relations between quarterback Brett Favre and coach Brad Childress have deteriorated.  But what was that heated discussion on the sidelines during the game at Carolina about?  The Vikings were going nowhere that night, and Childress wanted to change quarterbacks, but Favre wanted none of it and won the argument.  Both sides said it was no big deal, but with each Vikings loss, perception tends to become reality.

Off the field, owner Zygi Wilf began his strongest push yet for a new football stadium, with the lease at the Mall of America Field at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (or the MOADome, if you prefer) about to expire.  Wilf hasn't said it openly, but he's implying that if the powers-that-be don't give him a billion dollar stadium with a retractable roof, the Vikings would move to Los Angeles.

First of all, the Vikings aren't the only possible tenants that have been mentioned for that new L.A. stadium.  There's the Chargers, Bills, Jaguars, etc.  It's also no big secret that the NFL would prefer two teams, one from each conference, to share the stadium.  That could happen by the end of the coming decade.  But the residents of the City of Angels have gotten used to life without NFL football (except on TV), so it's a question of whether they'd want it back.

Second, if Wilf really wants a new stadium, he'd be wise to make it an open-air facility.  Bseides saving millions, it might make the Vikings more competitive against the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears--whom you'll notice don't play home games indoors.  Fans of a certain age will long remember those games at Metropolitan Stadium in the 1970s, when Bud Grant's playoff teams used the cold and snow to their advantage.  It might be nice to host a men's final four in college basketball, but is that really necessary?

Before the season, we thought the Vikings with Brett Fave would be good enough to win the division and make some noise in the playoffs, but would not make the Super Bowl.  We still feel that way.

As for who we think will be meeting in Miami a month from now, we give you:  Dallas vs. New England.