The Baltimore Ravens stunned the San Francisco 49ers during Sunday’s win, opening the door for the New Orleans Saints to lay claim to the top NFC playoff seed — if they can get a little help on Monday Night Football. Now that the 49ers are 10-2 (tying New Orleans), the surging Seattle Seahawks can match their record with a win over the Minnesota Vikings in prime-time. The Seahawks handed San Francisco their first loss earlier this season, giving Seattle a tie-breaker should they improve to 10-2.
If that happens, a ripple effect will flood throughout the NFC playoff picture. The Seahawks would jump ahead of the 49ers in the NFC West standings, demoting San Francisco to a wild-card spot as the NFC’s fifth seed. Because the Saints beat the Seahawks head-to-head back in September, New Orleans would rank ahead of them while both squads share a 10-2 record; in other words, the Saints would have the first seed, the Seahawks would sit in the second seed, and the 49ers would fall to the fifth seed.
Of course, that’s contingent to the Seahawks winning at CenturyLink Field. They’re favored by just 2.5 points per BetMGM, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is notoriously spotty in night games (he’s gone 7-13 in his career on that stage, and is 3-4 there since joining the Vikings) and laid an egg in this same venue in these same circumstances last year, losing 21-7 to the Seahawks on Monday Night Football in early December. On top of that nasty precedent, Cousins will be playing without wide receiver Adam Thielen, his favorite target who was preemptively ruled out with a hamstring injury.
So chances are good that the Saints will be able to (temporarily) grab the top seed in the NFC playoffs picture after this game. Just to be sure, root for the Seahawks to win — not that Saints fans will need much encouraging to pull against the Vikings, given the rocky history between those two teams. If nothing else, this added drama will stoke the intensity when the Saints and 49ers kick off next Sunday from inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
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