In addressing reporters Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours after digesting a loss to the Patriots, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer was asked to look ahead to a week from now when Minnesota plays its next MOST IMPORTANT GAME of the season. He agreed that there is added emphasis for a game against a conference foe that could be battling for one of the two same wild card spots the Vikings might find themselves trying to attain, but in crude (and rather humorous) parlance, Zimmer also noted that it doesn’t really matter if the Vikings win next Monday night if, after that, they relieve their bowels into their own hands and lose the next three. Fair enough, but let’s just focus on the Seattle game for a moment and what it means — not in the cosmic scheme of things, but in the context of the Vikings’ season. Luckily, FiveThirtyEight has a feature that shows how playoff probabilities are influenced by future outcomes.