Vikings heading into Bengals game with zero worries

When you're in the middle of the playoff race, every week is life or death. At 7-6, that's the exact case for the Minnesota Vikings, who are currently holding on to the NFC's sixth seed.

It hasn't been easy getting to this point and head coach Kevin O'Connell has done a really good job of holding things together, especially considering all the injuries to key players. One also has to tip their hat to defensive coordinator Brian Flores - the Vikings defense is easily one of the NFL's best units and they're only getting better every single week.

The Vikings are going to need that defense to keep rolling against the resurgent Cincinnati Bengals in Week 15. The Jake Browning-led Bengals have scored 34 points in back-to-back contests and are clicking, despite losing Joe Burrow for the season a few weeks ago.

It won't be easy for the Vikings offense, either. They're still trying to figure out the quarterback position, as Nick Mullens will make his first start for the team. That, combined, with the prowess of Bengals DC Lou Anarumo, is obviously a tough duo to overcome. And, just to top everything off, the Vikings are going on the road and will play in front of a pumped-up Bengals crowd. 

Vikings will be just fine, win or lose

There's a key aspect surrounding this game: The Vikings won't even drop a spot in the playoff race if they lose this matchup.

The 6-7 teams behind the Vikings are as follows, in this order:

• Green Bay Packers (7th)
• Los Angeles Rams (8th)
• Seattle Seahawks (9th)
• Atlanta Falcons (10th)
• New Orleans Saints (11th)

If the Vikings lose and fall to 7-7 and the above teams win and move to 7-7, there will be nothing to worry about in terms of potentially dropping a spot in the playoff race.

The Vikings beat the Packers, Falcons, and Saints head-to-head, already. They also have better conference records than the Rams and Seahawks and will continue to have a better record if they lose to the Bengals and LAR/SEA wins. Therefore, the Vikings have the edge when it comes to the conference record tiebreaker.

The one team that is not in the above equation is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who currently lead the NFC South with a 6-7 record. The Bucs play the Packers this weekend, so, if they win and move to 7-7, they'll continue to sit at No. 4. That win also gives them a 3-2 record in common games, compared to the Falcons' 2-3 record, so Minnesota need not worry about the Bucs' head-to-head tiebreaker advantage. If Tampa Bay loses and fall to 6-8, along with the Falcons, then the Vikings will still have the better record at 7-7.

And, of course, if the Packers beat the Bucs, the Vikings have the head-to-head advantage from their 24-10 win back in Week 8.

Everywhere you look, it's clear and objectively true that the Vikings are bulletproof heading into the weekend. They need to win purely for keeping the picture as clean as possible, but a loss won't send them into panic mode and it won't even affect their playoff standing.

Heading into a tough road matchup in December, that's all an NFL team can ask for.