On winning 10 games

The 2003 Vikings and 2005 Vikings each went 9-7 and didn't even make the playoffs.  So if the Vikings win the division at 9-7, we can be happy, but it's not a special accomplishment--it would make this Viking team no better than other Viking teams this decade.  It would be nice to see the Vikes not only win their first division title since 2000, but have their first 10+ win season since 2000, too.

And I never like it if a team wins 10 games because a better team rests its starters in week 17.  I've never felt good about the 1994 Vikings clinching a 10-6 record and the division against the 49er B-squad in week 17 (it might be easier to feel good about if the Bears hadn't kicked the Vikings' ass in the Metrodome in the playoff game).  But that doesn't mean there would be anything to apologize for.  The 2003 Vikings blew the division themselves (losing four games to the league's 4-12 games, the Charles Tillman disaster, and the Nate Poole disaster game), but they also lost the division because the Packers blew out the Denver Bronco B-squad in week 17.  I've yet to have any Packer fan express any sheepishness about that to me.  So the Vikings should get their 10 wins and division title any way they can get it (and the Vikings have been tough at home this season--I think they'd have a chance to beat the Giants at full strength in Thunderdome, if given the chance.  It's not the Vikings' fault if they don't get that chance).