Chart: How the Vikings clinch a playoff spot
December 23, 2015 at 6:02AM
• The Vikings can clinch a playoff spot with a win; or a Seattle win; or an Atlanta loss; or with a tie by any of the three teams.
• The Seahawks and Vikings are 9-5; the Falcons (7-7) are the only other team that figures in the wild card picture.
• If the three all end up 9-7, Atlanta and Seattle will earn the wild-card bids.
• In the NFL's three-team tiebreaker, the first tiebreaker applies to teams within the same division. The second tiebreaker is a head-to-head sweep between the three, which is not applicable because Seattle did not play Atlanta. The third tiebreaker is won-loss percentage in the conference; all three teams would finish 6-6. The fourth tiebreaker is won-lost percentage in common games, minimum of four, and there are not enough common games. The fifth tiebreaker is strength of victory — meaning the combined victories of your opponents. Atlanta would win that tiebreaker and get the fifth seed.
• That would leave Seattle and the Vikings vying for the sixth seed, and in a two-team tie, head-to-head is the first criteria. Seattle beat the Vikings and would get the sixth seed. That's why Seattle already has clinched a playoff spot; it can lose twice and still get in.
• Barring ties, the Vikings can only win the NFC North with two victories.
about the writer
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
