MINNEAPOLIS -- With their win against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings climbed to two games over .500 for the first time since they last reached the playoffs in 2012. It's a modest achievement that probably shouldn't trigger playoff talk yet, but we're going to make an egregious jump of the gun and go there anyway.

According to Five Thirty Eight, the Vikings improved their chances of reaching the playoffs to 46 percent with Sunday's win, and right now sit in the NFC's final playoff spot as one of only six teams with a winning record. They're 2-0 through two weeks of their favorable five-game stretch after their bye, and they've got an excellent chance to improve to 5-2 when they face the Bears in Chicago this weekend.

The Vikings' strength of schedule at this point is just .341, and the teams they've beaten have a combined win percentage of .214. That's not something for which the Vikings necessarily need to apologize, considering all five of the NFC's other winning teams have a strength of victory under .400. Their easiest path to the playoffs would still be to stockpile wins over the next three weeks -- a tricky home game against the Rams and a trip to Oakland are up next after the Bears game -- and weather a tough stretch of the schedule that includes the Packers, Falcons, Seahawks and Cardinals in 3 1/2 weeks.

If the Vikings can take a game or two in that span, and take care of a couple December home games against the Bears and Giants, they could have their route to 10 wins and a wild-card spot, independent of whatever the Packers might decide to do should they have the NFC North locked up by the time a Week 17 matchup at Lambeau Field rolls around. The Vikings have home games on the schedule against two of the three teams directly behind them in the NFC standings (the Rams and Seahawks), so they can help put themselves in playoff position with wins in those games.

There's probably no path to 10 victories that doesn't involve the Vikings beating a team with a winning record at some point, though, and a defining victory would certainly help them prove their playoff mettle (as coach Mike Zimmer will certainly appreciate us pointing out, the Vikings still don't have a victory over a winning team in his time as head coach). If the Vikings can keep stacking up wins over the next few weeks, and knock off one of the NFC's top teams in the process, they could put themselves in position to make some noise in the NFC. They're averaging just 20.7 points per game so far this season -- that'd be the third-lowest average of any 10-win team since 2010 -- but they're tied with the Broncos for the second-fewest points allowed per game (17.0). There are three undefeated teams among the top six scoring defenses in the league, and the Vikings could eventually find themselves on the way to the playoffs, too.