The Vikings (12-4) lost to the rival Packers 41-17 at Lambeau Field last Sunday.
Minnesota will now face another divisional opponent to close out the regular season as it travels to play the Chicago Bears (3-13) on Sunday.
Here's a look at where the Vikings rank heading into Week 18:
No. 11 (down 4 spots): Dan Hanzus – NFL.com
The Vikings are like The Alliance of Magicians headed by G.O.B. in Arrested Development, posing for a goofy group photo while holding a sign that reads "We Demand To Be Taken Seriously." Twelve wins and a division title cannot be ignored, but it's hard to credibly view the Vikes as Super Bowl contenders when their season is littered with gnarly blowout losses like the 41-17 takedown we witnessed on Sunday at Lambeau Field. Minnesota suffered meltdowns in every phase of the game and generally looked like the clearly inferior team despite the records of the parties involved. The doubts will follow this team into the postseason.
No. 8 (down 1 spot): NFL Staff – Bleacher Report
It might seem strange to say that a 12-win team should be worried.
But with the 2022 Vikings, it's also the truth.
After getting blasted by the rival Packers on Sunday, the Vikings have been outscored by 19 points for the season. While the Vikings have won nail-biter after nail-biter, Sunday marked the third time this year that Minnesota has been boat-raced by at least three scores.
Everything that could go wrong did on Sunday. The Vikings allowed a special teams touchdown and a pick-six. Minnesota's defense struggled again, allowing the Packers to convert over half their third downs. And Kirk Cousins was nightmarishly bad, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble.
Cousins was the first to tell reporters after the loss that he didn't play well enough.
"I just didn't play well enough tonight," Cousins said. "Just need to play better. That's the bottom line."
The problem is this wasn't a one-off. Dating back to the Week 14 loss to Detroit, the Vikings haven't played nearly as well as will be required to make hay in the playoffs.
And that may not just be a switch they can flip on when the postseason begins.
No. 8 (down 1 spot): Vinnie Iyer – Sporting News
The Vikings have lived on the close game this season and have perished pretty badly in their blowout losses to the Eagles, Cowboys, Lions and Packers. They are looking to be at their coldest for the playoffs.
No. 7 (down 1 spot): Pete Prisco – CBS Sports
They were terrible in losing to the Packers, which makes the word fraud once again pop up when discussing them. They have a negative point differential, which is bad.
No. 10 (down 3 spots): Nate Davis – USA TODAY Sports
Unbelievable that a 12-4 team with a division title in hand has been outscored by 19 points on the season. Minnesota would have to win by 50 Sunday to avoid owning the worst differential by a team with at least 12 victories since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
No. 7 (no change): Frank Schwab – Yahoo! Sports
The No. 3 seed isn't a bad place for the Vikings. If they're No. 3, they face the sixth-seeded Giants on Wild Card Weekend. If the Vikings move up to No. 2 they'd get the No. 7 seed, which is probably going to be the Packers. And we saw on Sunday how that matchup turned out.
