5. Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings jump ahead of the two higher seeds from each conference thanks to what was the biggest upset of the weekend.
People who were giving the Vikings a chance to win in New Orleans against the Saints were few and far between. The narrative about Kirk Cousins was that he couldn’t win a big game, and rightfully so, the Vikings quarterback has had issues in big spots.
But when it mattered most on Sunday, Cousins was able to drive his team down the field on the Vikings’ opening possession of overtime and connect with Kyle Rudolph for the game-winning touchdown — albeit, with plenty of controversy mixed in thanks to a non-call on what looked like an offensive pass interference by Rudolph.
If the Vikings can put it altogether on both sides of the ball, they stand as the toughest team coming out of the Wild Card slate. Now Minnesota will face an even tougher challenge when they travel to the west coast on a short week to take on the No. 1 seeded San Francisco 49ers on Saturday.