Vikings beat Jacksonville and somehow, someway are now in the NFC playoffs fray

A Vikings team that limped into its bye week at 1-5, after a stupefying loss to a winless Falcons team that had just fired its coach and general manager, now finds itself holding a playoff position in a field expanded to 14 teams to fill more fan bases with hope and the coffers of the NFL and its TV partners with cash.

There is an extra playoff team in both conferences and right now in the NFC, it would be the Vikings, winners for the fifth time in six games on Sunday after a 27-24 overtime victory over a one-win Jacksonville Jaguars team that fired its GM this week. Minnesota is now 6-6 and a No. 7 seed after Arizona lost to the Los Angeles Rams late Sunday afternoon. Should these NFC playoff seeds stick in this final month, the Vikings would head to Lambeau Field on wild-card weekend.

The Vikings' abysmal start left them with little margin for error, and by those lights, no one in the home locker room at U.S. Bank Stadium was complaining on Sunday about the final result. Celebrations, however, were muted.

https://www.startribune.com/nothing-special-vikings-beat-jacksonville-in-overtime-in-ugly-wild-game/573310821/#36