Of course they are not. Is anyone claiming they are, though?
I think it is pretty clear that they *are* indeed better than us. And so as I've been saying...we will need to have an "up" game and them a "down" one to have a chance.
But it's not just about the Vikings either. There are three teams ahead of us in the NFC standings (not playoff seeds, of course). Lions, Vikings, Eagles. And all five of our losses have came against those teams. With only one game remaining against the Bears, if nothing else it's not particularly encouraging to be heading into the playoffs with us having been incapable thus far of beating a team that is "better" than us.
My point was not to say that we have always been terrible or anything like that, but rather that more or less in the "LaFleur era" when all the chips are down in high-stakes/high-importance situations it seems like more often than not *we* are the side coming up short. Like I said, be honest: how many of us were confident *we* would be the ones making the stop there to get the ball back for the win? I have to think that your average Minnesota fan is considerably more confident in their team's ability to close out that game than your average Packer fan is (or should be) in their team's ability to get the stop and get in a position to win.
And why does it consistently feel like this is the case in the big games?
And...why does it consistently feel like this is ALSO the case?
How true is that, though? We've got one game left in the season and we still apparently don't know where our ceiling is. Having lost every time we have played a "better" opponent, Jaire or not...what reason do we have to be confident that it is "good and capable" enough to get over the hill the next time around?
Here is the part that I take issue with though (and likewise: It's nothing personal here, either). But a lot of this line of thinking feels like the same as the old saying, "crap in one hand and wish in the other and see which fills up faster". You don't win any awards for "being able to hang with anyone".
As before...why does it consistently feel like this is the case?
And...stop me if you've heard this one before...why does this too seem to consistently be the case?
This is what I also mean by "always the bridesmaid, never the bride": we are constantly talking about how IF all these pieces finally coalesce and come together then we'll make some noise. Just endlessly frustrating year after year to have that one or two (or more) pieces that never actually come together: IF we get healthy, IF our "project players" we drafted make good on their potential, IF one of our WRs becomes a #1 for us, IF our players execute better, IF we clean up our penalties, and so on and so forth. Just feels like there is always going to be one or two big IFs in the way, and that's a real bummer.
That's the trouble for me. Like above: Maybe that's the case but we haven't shown it yet. 0/5 against the teams who are ahead of us. It seems like we are stuck in that "good enough to compete but not win" bracket at the moment. Of course it's possible, but again I'll ask: if we are being honest with ourselves, who is confident that this WILL happen come playoff time? Not "I think it could happen" but "I believe this will happen". That's where the sticky point is for me.
