The Vikings stunned the 49ers on Monday Night Football, helping to further stabilize what looked to be a season going off the rails just weeks ago.
Now, as Minnesota finds itself in the thick of the early-season playoff picture thanks to recent wins and a cloudy NFC outlook, Evan says the Vikings turnaround spells bad news for both New York teams.
“The hope of Kirk Cousins rescuing us from the mediocrity of Zach Wilson is gone,” Evan said, noting the Vikings will certainly not sell their starting quarterback now. “You may have said it was gone a week or a week and a half ago, but there was always that tiny thought in the back of my mind of ‘You never know.’ And it’s gone.”
As for the Giants, while they have plenty of their own work to do to get back into the playoff conversation, it doesn’t help that they suddenly have another team to compete with if they want to secure back-to-back postseason appearances.
“It’s soft as cheese, or soap,” Evan said of Minnesota’s schedule the rest of the way. “Now, all of a sudden, with the Vikings at 3-4 and that soft schedule, you have to look at the NFC this way…the Dallas Cowboys are going to make the playoffs. Seattle is a tough one to jump over because of that damaging Week 4 loss…I almost look at Dallas and Seattle, unless Seattle collapses, as two teams you are not catching. That only leaves one playoff spot left.
“The team you really have to worry about is the Minnesota Vikings. So last night was a damaging loss for the Giants’ playoff hopes, and a damaging loss to delusional Jets fans like me who thought Kirk Cousins could ride to the rescue.”