Minnesota Vikings face a near must-win against the Los Angeles Rams
No one expected the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams match to be the marquee matchup in Week 11 of the NFL season, but here we are.
I will start this piece of with a warning: I am going to try to my best to remember that the Rams are now based in Los Angeles, so try not to judge if a St. Louis slips in somewhere. I’ve already had to delete ‘St. Louis’ three times and I’m only on the second sentence. Somethings just never fully sink in kind of like the Minnesota Vikings and the Rams matchup being the marquee attraction this weekend in the NFL.
At the beginning of the season, it would have been hard to find anyone that would have told you that both the Vikings and Rams would be leading their divisions when they met up in Week 11. It would have been ever harder to find someone predict that both teams would be 7-2 going into their meeting. That’s the NFL for you.
As tough of a matchup it will be for the Vikings, they are looking at a game that is a near must-win. The Vikings will survive if they don’t beat the Rams on Sunday, but it would help the season along tremendously for Minnesota if they could pull out the victory.
The Vikings schedule for the second half of the season is absolutely ridiculous. The Vikings already defeated the tough Washington Redskins on the road prior to this Rams game, but the schedule gets even tougher following the home game against LA. The game is followed by three straight road games for the Vikings against three teams that all find themselves in the playoff hunt: Detroit Lions, Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers.
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It is hard to win home games in the NFL, nonetheless road games against teams that need wins to find themselves into the playoffs. This is why the Vikings need to take advantage of their home field this weekend and win. A win against a tough Rams team would likely help cushion the blow of a loss during the three week road trip which is something that will probably more than likely happen, those teams are just simply too tough.
Plus, it’d be nice to bank some more wins before Teddy Bridgewater takes over at the quarterback position. Bridgewater may or may not be the answer, but if he’s rusty, well, it might be ugly and it’d be nice to be able to ride Bridgewater all the way once he does finally hit the field again.
Again, it’s not a must win for the Vikings. I believe they’d find themselves in the playoffs even with a loss this weekend, but they could make their lives much easier if they just win the matchup of the two 7-2 teams.
Next: 5 takeaways from the Vikings win over Washington
Case Keenum will be the quarterback this weekend against the Rams. The game is set for a noon Central kick from U.S. Bank Stadium in lovely downtown Minneapolis. The game will be broadcast on FOX.