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The last time the Vikings and Dallas Cowboys met, the circumstances were cut and dried, the significance understood. It was win and advance, lose and go home.
Playoff football offers no gray area.
Flash forward exactly nine months to the day after the Vikings advanced to the NFC Championship Game and ended the Cowboys' season with a 34-3 victory at Mall of America Field at the Metrodome.
Same teams, same venue, many of the same players. The stakes are obviously much different, but it can be argued that both teams might feel a similar sense of desperation.
With so much returning talent on both teams, the Vikings and Cowboys were viewed nationally as Super Bowl candidates with enough firepower to be the last team standing this winter.
But their paths took a detour. Both teams are 1-3, a scenario few would have predicted.
"Not ... at ... all," Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield said. "We are surprised, too. But we still have a long way to go. It's not impossible. But our main focus is getting a win this week."
Unlike last January, the season won't end for the team that falls to 1-4. But the margin for error will continue to shrink while any remaining preseason optimism will all but disappear.
Consider: Since the current playoff system started in 1990, only five teams that started 1-4 made the playoffs. None won the Super Bowl.
Neither team wants to test that history.
"Two teams starving for a win," Vikings middle linebacker E.J. Henderson said. "I think a win would point us in the right direction. I'm expecting a lot from the Cowboys and definitely expecting a lot from the Vikings."
Said Dallas coach Wade Phillips, whose job security has become a hot topic again: "I think both teams are certainly disappointed with what their record is right now, but they can both do something about it. It's a good opportunity for one team to get their season started in the right direction."
