A memorable season for Vikings fans took a slight downturn on Sunday. Minnesota lost to NFC North rival Detroit, 31-9, as the Lions clinched the division title and the No. 1 playoff seed in the conference. Minnesota Vikings Super Bowl odds are still strong but the road got a bit tougher because not only did Minnesota settle for a wild card, but the team will be on the road for the first round.
The Vikings (14-3) set a record that they didn't want: The first 14-win team ever to be a wild-card team and not a division champion. The result is that they will travel to Los Angeles to face the NFC West champion Rams at 8 p.m. Eastern Monday night, the last of six games in the NFL Wild Card round.
Still, this is only the second time that the Vikings have won as many as 14 games in a season. The only time they exceeded that was in 1998, when they finished 15-1.
At OntarioBets.com, your best source for Ontario sportsbooks coverage, we used the Champs or Chumps website to see how teams fared in the NFL playoffs after finishing with a 14-3 record since the 2021 NFL season (the first year of a 17-game season). There have been two teams in the past three seasons that have gone 14-3; it was in the same season and they met in the Super Bowl.
Situation | Number of Teams | Percentage* |
Making The Playoffs | 2 | 100% |
Advanced Past Wild Card Round | 2 | 100% |
Winning Divisional Round | 2 | 100% |
Winning Conference Championship | 2 | 100% |
Winning Super Bowl | 1 | 50% |
*Rounded to nearest whole number
A 14-win season is a rare feat in all of NFL history. Using ChampsorChumps.us data, we dug deeper into historical trends. The Vikings had a nine-game winning streak snapped against the Lions. That was the franchise's longest single-season run since 1969, when Minnesota won 12 in a row.
Entering the first round of the playoffs, the Vikings have the sixth-best Super Bowl odds on DraftKings Ontario Sportsbook, at +1600 (they were +850 going into Week 18). That’s behind the Lions (+280), Chiefs (+350), Baltimore Ravens (+600), Buffalo Bills (+650) and Philadelphia Eagles (+700).
Looking forward, the Vikings are 1.5-point favorites at DraftKings against the Rams for Monday's game at SoFi Stadium in L.A.
In the three seasons since the NFL expanded the regular season to 17 games, only the 2022 Chiefs and Eagles went 14-3. Both were the top seeds in their conferences and they both reached Super Bowl LVII. Kansas City won a classic, 38-35.
The Lions are a +125 favorite with NorthStar Bets Ontario Sportsbook to win the NFC title and make their first trip to the Super Bowl. The Vikings are listed at +700 to win the conference, behind the Lions and Eagles (+330).
In league history, 37 teams have won at least 14 games in a season, including the Vikings and Eagles this year. Of those, 12 won the Super Bowl, most recently those 2022 Chiefs. The Vikings have reached the Super Bowl four times and lost all four. The last time they got there was in the 1976 season, when they lost Super Bowl XI, 32-14, to the Oakland Raiders.
This year, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell and company have a chance to end the season on a grand note, and reward Ontario sports betting apps backers.
USA Today photo by Jeffrey Becker
Author
Jim Tomlin is an editor and writer specializing in sports, gambling and the intersection of those industries. He has 30+ years of journalism experience and his work has appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, FanRag, Saturday Down South and Saturday Tradition.
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