Can The Minnesota Vikings Win The NFC, Or Will The Season Fizzle Out Like So Many Other Years?

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We are a long way from the National Football League glory years of the 1970s for the Minnesota Vikings.

Back then, the Purple People Eaters led the Vikings to the Super Bowl four times, but each ended in a loss. Unlike some of the other teams in the NFC North, Minnesota actually has a couple of playoff wins in the last decade, and has made a conference title game in the last five years.

Going into Week 15 of the 2022 season, Minnesota is still in line to win the NFC North, and has a good shot at the second seed–and home field for at least two rounds–that comes with it. But fans, and bettors, do not want to hear all that: they want to know if the Vikings can win the NFC and make a first Super Bowl appearance since 1977.

Right now, most sports books have the Vikings as the fourth choice in the NFC, despite holding the second-best record. Minnesota is behind the one-loss Philadelphia Eagles (the current favorites with sportsbooks at +190), the Dallas Cowboys, and the surging San Francisco 49ers. The Vikings will not see any of the division champions until at least the NFC Divisional Round, so they would probably be favored in their first game at home. But can they go all the way?

Minnesota already has losses to Philadelphia and Dallas, but the Vikings have dominated the four AFC teams (4-0), so that might bode well if they can get out of the conference. Sports books are not giving Minnesota a lot of love to do that, though: the Vikings are currently priced at 20/1 or longer to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

The good news for the Vikings is that they look set to be the top team in the NFC North for the next few years. The Green Bay run at the top of the standings is finally ending, and it might be a few years (or more) until we see the Packers winning any titles. The next challenge should come from the Detroit Lions, who are ending the 2022 campaign well heading into the offseason.

However, football fans are not one for the future. They want wins, and trophies, now. If Minnesota wins 12-14 games in 2022 and fizzles out in the postseason, it could go down as another failure.

When you look at the NFC playoff picture, the Vikings should get one of the NFC East teams that are not the Eagles or Cowboys, or possibly Seattle, in the Wild Card round. From that point on, it would get much trickier for Minnesota.

There are worse bets on the board, though, than taking a shot with Minnesota to make a run to the Super Bowl. In fact, there might not be a better value bet out there than placing a few bucks on the Vikings to go all the way and win their first title. Note, that there are no online sportsbooks in Minnesota at the moment, but you can check other betting sites.

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