Updated NFC Playoff Picture after Packers blowout Vikings

Here’s a look at the updated NFC Playoff Picture and NFC Wild Card standings after the Packers blew out the Vikings in Week 17.

Any comeback  luck the Minnesota Vikings had earlier in the season was very clearly left in 2022. As the calendar turned to a new year, the Vikings started 2023 by getting absolutely leveled by the Green Bay Packers in a game that further shifts the NFL Playoff Picture.

Earlier in the day Philadelphia lost its second straight game — coincidentally its second game without Jalen Hurts — which means the No. 1 seed is still up for grabs. Minnesota had a path to the top seed before Green Bay took a flamethrower to it, and in the process positioned itself to sneak into the playoffs in Week 18.

Green Bay was 4-8 and on life support not that long ago, but have won four straight games and now control its own destiny. A win next Sunday against the Detroit Lions would mean the Packers will have completed an improbably turnaround and will be playing football on Wild Card Weekend.

We’ll get to the Wild Card chaos in a second, because right now the Vikings need to be talked about. Specifically, the Vikings lack of anything in Week 17 further fueled the narrative that they’re a fabergé egg of a team that, but for nothing looked good on the outside against the Packers. The hollowness of the Vikings contending status was seemingly exposed in a big way on Sunday, but it doesn’t derail their Super Bowl dreams.

What the loss did do is take the No. 1 seed out of reach for the Vikings and put them in danger of falling back to the No. 3 seed.