Vikings win over Cowboys would certify Minnesota as contenders

The Minnesota Vikings have been essentially the most disrespected profitable staff within the NFL this season. Regardless of an 8-1 file, only a few outdoors the state of Minnesota consider the Vikings are a “actual” contender within the NFC. Even after surprisingly pulling out an extra time victory over the Buffalo Payments final week, most individuals nonetheless must see extra from Kirk Cousins and crew.

Nicely, the proof is in that Minneapolis pudding, and they should proceed displaying it in Week 11 with the Dallas Cowboys on the town for a late Sunday afternoon showdown. The Cowboys had additionally been rolling at 6-2 heading into final week’s sport with Inexperienced Bay. Then, in fact, the Cowboys did what the Cowboys all the time do within the face of prosperity. Dallas dropped this sport to Inexperienced Bay, though they had been favored to win on the street.

Minnesota is in an analogous state of affairs, however whereas they aren’t technically favored on this sport (1.5-point underdogs), most analysts and followers view them in the identical mild because the Cowboys. Simply when it seems like they’ve turned the nook after an enormous win, it’d be similar to Cousins to have a kind of mistake-riddled video games and lose. That will be validation for all of the Vikings’ critics to say, “we informed you so.”

A win over the Cowboys would put the Vikings in a very good place for home-field benefit within the NFC heading towards the tip of the season. Though Minnesota dropped their head-to-head match-up with Philadelphia early within the 12 months, they’ve climbed again right into a tie for the No. 1 seed with the Eagles.

At 8-1, the Eagles and Vikings are neck and neck, with Philly seemingly having a harder schedule down the stretch. The Eagles nonetheless have video games left in opposition to Tennessee, Dallas, and the Giants twice. After going through Dallas this week, Minnesota has notable video games remaining in opposition to the Jets and Giants.

So, Minnesota must preserve doing what they’re doing, and residential area is prone to develop into a actuality. With the Vikings, everybody acknowledges the expertise of vast receiver Justin Jefferson. Coming into the season, he mentioned he needed to be often called the very best wideout within the NFL, and he’s gone above and past in making his case. Jefferson is averaging over 117 receiving yards per sport this season and is on tempo to surpass Randy Moss for essentially the most receiving yards within the first three seasons for any participant in NFL historical past.

However in the case of the man throwing him the ball, everyone seems to be reluctant to provide Cousins any flowers. Any individual’s acquired to go the rock to Jefferson so he could make these spectacular catches just like the one-handed seize in opposition to the Payments. Cousins handed for 357 yards in opposition to one of many higher defenses within the league in Buffalo. He isn’t Patrick Mahomes, however Cousins hasn’t had many video games the place he’s made the large errors that value Minnesota. Cousins is enjoying throughout the offense, leading to them being tied for the very best file within the league.

A win over Dallas ought to make Minnesota the favourite for home-field benefit within the NFC and may make believers out of most. Clearly, this isn’t a must-win sport for the Vikings, however within the courtroom of public opinion, this sport couldn’t be any larger.