Week 13 - Monday

'75 Minnesota vs. '13 Seattle

The 5-6 Vikings traveled to Seattle to keep their playoff hopes alive. With a loss, they can do no better than 9-7, but they have yet to win a divisional matchup.

Seattle and Minnesota would trade FG's in the first quarter as each team sensed for weaknesses. But whatever searching Minnesota did, they came up short. Pete Carroll, on the other hand, came up genius. The Legion of Boom held off the usually explosive Tarkenton passing attack, keeping the Vikings from any further scores. And the Purple People Eaters seemed helpless against the 'Hawks.

In fact, the Vikings just barely tallied 200 yards. Tarkenton completed just 12 throws and despite 26 attempts to run, nobody for Minnesota averaged more than 4 yards per carry.

The Seahawks fared much better, doubling the Vikings' yardage. Wilson threw for over 300 yards and rushed for 40, with Lynch running up 80 more. Wilson completed 24/34 with 9 different receivers, throwing just 1 TD and 1 INT.

Seattle wins by a final score of 23-3.

Playoff Notes

With this loss, Minnesota's playoff hopes are all but dead. They are unable to clinch the division even if they win all games, and would have to rely on several teams NFC teams losing 50% or more of their games from here on out.

In the NFC East, if the Eagles beat the Giants next week, they'll tie record against divisional opponents. But from there they could only be 7-9 at worst, while NY's best hopes would 6-10. Of course, Philadelphia still has to contend with the Redskins one more time.

Similarly, if Dallas loses next week, they can hope for no more than 6-10 at best, with several teams having chances at 9-7 at worst.

In the NFC North, if the Lions lose next week they can't clinch the division, but have a shot at wildcard (with a best case record of 9-7)

Lastly, in the NFC South, if the Panthers beat the Falcons, NO and TB will both be long shots for a wildcard spot but will be unable to clinch the division. If the Falcons win, everything will remain up in the air.

There are no certainties yet in the AFC, except that if Buffalo loses 1 more game, they're out. Even at NE's worse, Buffalo has done terrible against the division and would be needing several teams to lose 3 / 4 games.

On the lower end of things, Cleveland and Denver have no chance at all, much like the 2-10 San Fran team in the NFC.

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