The Minnesota Vikings have the opportunity to do something that has only been accomplished only six times in the Super Bowl era:
Win their division and still have five games left to play.
The magic number is two for the Vikings, and there are two scenarios where Minnesota can clinch the NFC North in Week 13 against the visiting New York Jets.
PLAYOFFS:
The MINNESOTA @Vikings can clinch the NFC North division title in week 13 with:
1) MIN Win + DET Loss/Tie
2) MIN Tie + DET LossClinching div title with 5 wks to play would equal the earliest in Super Bowl era with:
73 MIN
85 CHI
97 SF
04 PHI
07 NE
09 IND@NFLResearch pic.twitter.com/fx8z4llwIw— Joe Ferreira (@JoeNFL) November 28, 2022
The easiest route is for the Vikings to beat the Jets on Sunday and for the Detroit Lions to lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
They would become the seventh team to achieve the feat with five weeks to play, and that list includes the 1973 Vikings. No teams have ever clinched a division title with more games left to play. Only one team in that group failed to make the Super Bowl: the 1997 San Francisco 49ers, who lost in the NFC Championship Game to the Green Bay Packers.
Getting the division clinched earlier will be a huge positive for the Vikings as they will have one major milestone checked off.
