Minnesota Vikings Are Closing in on Contender Status but Aren’t Quite There Yet

December 11, 2015   ·   Steven Cook   ·   Jump to comments

It will fall upon deaf ears for most Minnesota Vikings fans still anguishing about a tough 23-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football. But the Vikings are by far the closest they've been to NFC contenders since the short-lived tenure of Brett Favre.
Moral victories may not exist in the NFL, but it'd be quite hard to come away from Thursday's game and avoid the growing realization that the Vikings are close—very close—to being one of the conference's top threats come January.
The writing was on the wall for a predictable step back entering Thursday. Only four days removed from a humiliating 38-7 loss to Seattle, they traveled to face an even greater NFC West force on the road that's healthy and peaking entering a push for the postseason.
Speaking of healthy, Minnesota was nothing near that for a game that would be a so-called measuring stick to their NFC prowess. Top contributors at every level of the defense were missing Thursday...

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