In what might be the worst loss of the season, the Vikings lost to the Cincinnati Bengals on the road in overtime. After building a 17-3 lead in the third quarter, the Vikings stalwart defense (which hadn’t given up a touchdown since the last series of the Denver Broncos game) gave up three consecutive scores in the fourth quarter and ultimately the game-winning field goal in OT for a dispiriting, debilitating and very disappointing 27-24 loss.

Coming off the bye, the Vikings heads to Las Vegas where fortunes are gained (but more often lost in the casinos) and there are so many questions pestering the Purple personnel department: Who will start at QB? How much will JJ play and contribute? How much money should they give Kirk Cousins this offseason. Will any amount of money be enough for Brian Flores to return? Why can’t we have nice things?

During their bye week, the Vikings nearly said bye-bye to their playoff chances. They held onto their 6th seed position in the NFC playoff picture, but the red-hot Green Bay Packers tied them at 6-6 and crept into the seventh spot. The Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are also 6-6, so the Vikings playoff chances dropped to 41 percent and their margin for error plummeted to about zilch with five regular season games to go. It’s crunch time in Minnesota.

Considering the full gamut of odd, bad, strange, embarrassing and downright maddening losses to the Chicago Bears, the Vikings sunk to a new low. It’s always weird when these two teams play in Chicago, or even worse, if it is Halloween Night. But on Monday Night Football at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Vikings succumbed to the glare of full moon fever and were taken down by Chicago 12-10—in a game in which the Bears were the first team this season to win without scoring a touchdown.

We've seen this before: the Vikings lose to a beatable team due to turnovers (including another one on their first drive). Even head coach agreed and said we had already learned this lesson before. But we were thinking that the Josh Dobbs Affect would erase that kind of thing. But the turnovers reared their ugly head and may have cost the Vikings a chance to win the NFC North Division in back-to-back seasons.

The Vikings hosted the NFC South Division-leading New Orleans Saints at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, and we all know what happens when these two teams get together—stranger things. In this one, the Vikings teed up a blowout in the first half and then coasted (nervously) to their fifth win in a row. 

The Vikings entered the game in position for postseason play (if the season ended then) despite
losing their QB1 last week, and this win certainly doesn’t change that prospect. With two
backup quarterbacks who showed poise, efficiency and promise in a season that was formerly
totally off the rails, suddenly the 5-4 Vikings have something going for them. And we here at
the Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast (Joe Oberle, senior writer at vikingsterritory.com and
purplePTSD.com and Mark Craig, NFL and Vikings writer for the Star Tribune and
startribune.com) are here to talk about it all.

Last Monday night the Vikings outplayed a very good San Francisco 49ers team to save their season. Check. This week, they went to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Packers with a chance to get to.500 on the year and vault back into playoff contention. Check again.

It went well for the Vikings for a while—that Niner fumble was followed by a Niner missed field goal and the Vikings had a 10-0 lead. But the Niners scored before the half and then Jordan Addison got his redemption by stealing a pick from Charvarius Ward, the defending who stole reception from Addison on the third play of the game.

We won’t bail them out at the Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast (we being, Joe Oberle from vikingsterritory and purplePTSD and Mark Craig from the Star Tribune). We will hold the offense’s feet to the fire (even though wideout Justin Jefferson was on the sidelines on Sunday) and implore them to improve quickly.