Despite finishing the regular season with a 14-3 record, the Minnesota Vikings are slotted to play on the road against the LA Rams in the Wild Card round. The Vikings fans, who feel their team should have earned the home advantage considering the impeccable season, are not a happy lot. However, Matthew Stafford’s wife Kelly found it amusing that fans of a statistically superior team were complaining about being seeded against a “weak” opposition.
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“It’s interesting that people are complaining about the seeding… because here’s my take. I know we benefited because we got a home game, because we’re NFC West and we’re going to be hosting… But if you’re a 14-3 team coming to us, you shouldn’t have a problem beating us. So why are you complaining?” asked Kelly on The Morning After.
The only reasonable explanation for the outrage is Minnesota’s fear of playing against the Rams, felt Kelly.
“I think people don’t want to play us,” she said cheekily, adding that the seeding has always been this way for the playoffs.
Kelly highlighted that the NFL seeding works the same way like how winning the SEC or Big 10 doesn’t guarantee a first-round bye in CFB. Only the top seed in each conference gets a bye to the Divisional Round. Given that this rule is applied every year, she was puzzled by all the hue and cry.
“The seeding has been like this since the beginning of this playoff situation… It’s kind of like college football where you win the SEC, you win the Big 10… and you might not have a better record than somebody else but you get the bye,” said Kelly.
“So as much as I want to sit here and be sad, well I’m not sad because we get a home game so l’m a little biased about it but l’m also like this has been this way forever. So why are we all of a sudden complaining about it?” added the podcast host.
On paper, and going by the season, the Vikings are indeed a superior team. Kelly is right there.
But the Stafford-led Rams had defeated Minnesota once this season. So it’s hard to rule out the psychological edge the Rams would have going into this matchup.
Moreover, with the officiating controversy that unfolded the last time these two sides met, the Vikings fans have another reason to be skeptical about.
