All eyes were on former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins as he and these Atlanta Falcons came into the Twin Cities wanting to end what was a 3-game skid.
Instead of putting a stop to the bleeding and keeping hold of their slim first place lead in the NFC South, Cousins and the Falcons fell apart in the second half and fell to the Vikings by a score of 42-21, giving up five passing touchdowns to quarterback Sam Darnold, who has completely out-classed Cousins over his past four.
Meanwhile, Cousins continued a streak of his own as he's now up to eight interceptions over his last four games (all losses, of course) and is still without a single passing touchdown.
Falling to 6-7, the Falcons were bumped out of first place in the division after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took down a league-worst Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. Falling from the no. 4 seed all the way down to the no. 9 seed, things changed drastically for the Falcons.
Updated NFC playoff picture after Week 14
1. Detroit Lions (12-1)
2. Philadelphia Eagles (11-2)
3. Seattle Seahawks (8-5)
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-6)
5. Minnesota Vikings (11-2)
6. Green Bay Packers (9-4)
7. Washington Commanders (8-5)
8. L.A. Rams (7-6)
9. Atlanta Falcons (6-7)
10. Arizona Cardinals (6-7)
11. San Francisco 49ers (6-7)
12. Dallas Cowboys (5-7 before MNF)
Those very same Raiders which helped the Bucs to first place in the NFC South, on Sunday, are whom the Falcons will attempt to get things back on track against next week.
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What are the Falcons' current playoff chances after Week 14?
According to the official league website and playoff predictor, the Falcons' current playoff chances sit at just 38 percent. In order to put Atlanta in the best position, possible, here's a few things they need to happen over the last four weeks of the season.
Obviously, the best-case scenario for the Falcons starts with them ripping off four-straight wins after just as many losses in a row. Atlanta has games against the Raiders, Giants, Commanders and Panthers to finish out the year. Three of those are highly-winnable, of course.
Then, the easy answer would be for the Bucs to finish out losing at least two of their final games against the Chargers, Cowboys, Panthers and Saints.
The other key teams to keep an eye on, in all likelihood, will be the current no. 7 seed Commanders (8-5), no. 8 seed Rams (7-6) and no. 10 seed Cardinals (6-7).
Because there are still so many teams in the running, of course, it's going to be the smoothest for Atlanta to come back and win this division. But, it starts with the Falcons putting one tally in the win column. They have got to start winning games. If they lose in Week 15, they'll almost be out of it completely.