For now, the Saints are back in the NFL playoff picture

Sunday night’s New Orleans Saints win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers put the black and gold back in the NFL playoff picture. If the postseason started today, the Saints would be the last wild-card seed in the NFC — with a first-round road game scheduled against the Dallas Cowboys.

But two games left to play in Week 15 could push New Orleans back down in the standings: Monday night’s matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, and Tuesday’s rescheduled NFC East scrap between the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles. So who should fans root for?

Hope for a Vikings loss when they kick off with the Bears on ESPN and ABC. Minnesota is a game behind the Saints at 6-7, but their stronger conference record would put them ahead of New Orleans if they improve to 7-7 with a win at Chicago.

And if Saints fans tune in for Tuesday’s Washington-Philadelphia tilt on FOX, be sure to pull against the Eagles. The Saints have a head-to-head tiebreaking win over Washington, but Philadelphia can say the same for them. So root for the Bears on Monday and Washington on Tuesday.

It’s frustrating that the Saints are in a position where they don’t control their own destiny, but let’s just be grateful they got here. They’ve fought their way back to .500 and are right in the mix after an awful month-long losing streak. They’ve got just as strong a chance as anyone else at this point in the season.