The Vikings (11-4) will enter Sunday's game having lost three of their past four and needing a victory over the Giants in order to even have a chance at the second seed in the conference. If Philadelphia (11-4) beats Dallas on Sunday in a game that will decide the NFC East champion, the Eagles will get the second seed no matter what Minnesota does because they hold the tie-breaker.
The Vikings actually could finish as low the fourth seed. While they will play host to a home playoff game regardless because they are NFC North champions, the Vikings could find themselves on the road in the second round.
That might not be a good thing considering the Vikings past three losses have come in prime-time games on the road against Arizona, Carolina and Chicago.
Although coach Brad Childress could not pinpoint one reason why the Vikings have struggled away from home, there is little question his team's confidence has been shaken.
The Vikings are 7-0 this season at the Metrodome so playing at home Sunday after back-to-back road losses should help but this team also needs to get back the swagger that it carried throughout the months of September, October and November.
"We need to come out, every man to himself, self analyze and figure out what he needs to get better and get this team better," linebacker Ben Leber said.
That will include making corrections in a variety of areas, including tackling on defense, running the ball on offense and providing better coverage on kickoffs. Running back Adrian Peterson has not rushed for 100 yards in six games and some of that is due to a lack of holes being opened up by the offensive line.
"Each man on this team needs to go home and look himself in the mirror and figure out what we want to be this year: an 11-5 team or a 12-4 team that makes noise in the playoffs," said defensive end Jared Allen, who was one of eight Vikings named to the NFC Pro Bowl roster this week. "That's just the bottom line."
The Vikings will spend this week focusing only on their game against the Giants and downplaying anything else that might be happening around them that could affect their playoff chances.
The logic will be that the only thing they can control is the game against New York and not how the Eagles do in Dallas or Arizona fares against Green Bay.
