Minnesota (6-6) at San Francisco (3-9)

Minnesota Vikings Defense
1st Ranked against the Run
32nd Ranked against the Pass
Minnesota Vikings Offense
1st Ranked in Rushing
31st Ranked in Passing

San Francisco 49ers Defense
27th Ranked against the Run
20th Ranked against the Pass
San Francisco 49ers Offense
27th Ranked in Rushing
32nd Ranked in Passing

A match made in…well, maybe not heaven, but someplace where good humor abounds. The absolute worst passing offense on the planet comes up against the crummiest pass defense in the world this week when the Vikings come ashore on the left coast to try for their fourth straight win. A victory would put them in a three way dogfight for a wild card with Detroit and Arizona, but only if those two teams win their games as well; should the Lions fall in Dallas and the Cardinals get taken down by the Seahawks, Minnesota would be the uncontested number six seed in the NFC and would have destiny in their own hands as they make a run for the playoffs.

An unconfirmed rumor has it that the San Francisco linebacking corps were seen at a meditation session earlier this week, all sitting in the lotus position and chanting in unison a mantra of “stop Adrian Peterson, stop Adrian Peterson…”. Of course that still leaves them the problem of Minnesota’s second running back Chester Taylor, who came in for a gimpy Peterson against the Raiders two weeks ago and prompty ripped off 164 yards on the ground and caught 3 passes for 38 more.

Don’t look for the Vikings to do anything other than what has gotten them to this point; total domination of the ground game on both sides of the football. Minnesota, who owns the best run defense in the NFL has given up only about 70 yards per game to opposing rushers, and the 49ers best running back Frank Gore doesn’t average that many yards even against teams who aren’t as stingy with rushing yardage as the Vikings.

And don’t look for San Francisco to do anything other than what has gotten them to this point either; lose football games.