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Local sports columnist John Gilbert on the Vikings, NFC North – "Traditions can be hard to change in the NFL, but this season, the Vikings and Detroit Lions almost single-handedly have turned the NFC North upside down. The torn Achilles tendon and the season-long recovery have hardly stabilized the Vikings, who have proven incapable of establishing any sort of a running game. With two games left, Green Bay comes to Minnesota as favorites — based on the development of Jordan Love at QB, and the Packers have surged up from a terrible start to avoid joining the tradition-changers in the conference. That would leave one final game — against the Lions, who traditionally fall apart when facing a challenge to move up. That’s the biggest tradition to vanish this season, and if the Lions get by the Dallas Cowboys, they have the big chance to win the division and roar into the playoffs as legitimate Super Bowl contenders."
