The Minnesota Vikings' game with the Detroit Lions last night did not go the way fans thought it would, with the Lions coming out on top 31-9. After the game, when the two head coaches met, a five-word message was exchanged: "See you in two weeks." That was the message from Detroit's head coach Dan Campbell to the Vikings' Kevin O'Connell.

With the loss, the Vikings become the fifth-seed in the NFC playoffs, which sees them facing the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Rams in LA one week from today on Monday Night Football. If the Vikings manage to beat the Rams in LA, they then hop back on a plane, and head to Detroit. Yes, Detroit has beaten the Vikings twice already this season.

It's hard to beat the same team 3 times in a year

The Vikings will have to dig deep within themselves as the path to the Super Bowl has been set, and they will have to do it on the road the entire time. The three losses that the Vikings took in the regular season all came from the two teams that they are scheduled to face in the playoffs. Talk about a turn of bad luck, but it also could be seen as a road to redemption.

They say that it is tough for an NFL team to sweep another NFL team three times in a season. Well that doesn't seem to be true as Football Perspective breaks down the odds, and the team that won the first two games often came out on top in the 3rd.

"Since the 1970 NFL Merger, there have been 21 instances where a team swept a team in the regular season and then had a third battle in the playoffs. The sweeping team has gone 14-7 in those games, which means it must not be *that* hard to beat a playoff team three times in a season. It is worth noting that in 4 of these 21 trio of games, the sweeping team was on the road in the postseason."

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The Vikings will have to play error-free football, on the road, for the next month. SKOL.