Minnesota Vikings 2012 Schedule: The 5 Best Chances to Play Spoiler

At first glance, I thought that the schedule makers had it in for the Vikings.

It's not an easy schedule by any means, not for a team who is going to be rebuilding.

However with obstacles and adversity comes opportunity. Opportunity to get better as a team and come out the other side of a tough schedule more cohesive and effective. The opportunity to test out players and see if they have what it takes.

The opportunity to ruin another team's season.

Ah yes, spoilers. The chance to mess with someone else's chances to make the playoff and indulge in a little bit of schadenfreude.

The Vikings will have at least five chances to ruin someone's day by beating them when they won't be expected to.

Here are the five best chances for the Vikings to be big jerks and kick sand in someone's face.

Home Against the San Francisco 49ers: Week 3

Too early for a spoiler game you say? Perhaps in the classic sense.

However, the 49ers have an awful lot of doubters considering they had a tremendous season in 2011. An early loss to the Vikings, while perhaps not completely soul crushing, could be difficult to overcome, especially in the midst of a stretch of games including road contests at Green Bay and the Jets and at home against the Lions, Bills and Giants.

It isn't inconceivable that the Niners struggle out of the gate, perhaps stumbling to 3-3 or worse if things fall wrong.

The Vikings can tip those scales. I'm sure 49er fans are looking at that Week 3 game as an island in the middle of madness, a sure win to right the ship if they drop one or both of the games preceding it. It wouldn't be a shock to see the team looking ahead to the Jets and Bills.

The Vikings can make that assumption a bad one and potentially throw the Niners' season into chaos with a win.

It will take a perfect offensive performance by Christian Ponder and his receivers. The defense will have to make no mistakes either.

We know Alex Smith can be rattled. We know that his receivers, even with an added Randy Moss, have some question marks.

If the defense can stop Gore and Smith and the offensive line can protect Ponder, the Vikings can throw an early monkey wrench in the 49ers' championship plans.

At the Houston Texans: Week 16

It's hard to imagine the Texans not having the AFC South locked up by now, but another rash of injuries, a better Jaguars or Titans team or a injury from an errant Jim Isray Van Halen quote could make this a more critical game than it appears right now.

Even if they have the division sewn up, the Texans could be fighting for home-field advantage, first-round byes or playoff seeding.

This is a more classic spoiler than our first one, with less time for a team to recover if they lose.

The Texans are a tremendous team with Matt Schaub, Arian Foster, Andre Johnson and Owen Daniels among the best at their positions and a defense which will be even better in year two under Wade Phillips.

However, the Vikings were good at keeping opposing offenses at bay in 2011 and depending on their draft class, could be even more effective themselves.

It again comes down to the offense in many ways. At this point in the season, has Ponder grown comfortable enough with his weapons and offensive line to put out one of his best performances?

By now, Adrian Peterson will certainly be back and hopefully at 100 percent. That could make a big difference in the outcome of this game and, perhaps, part of the AFC playoff race.

Home Against the Detroit Lions: Week 10

The Lions and Vikings have their second meeting on November 11th at the Metrodome and while it's still early, this could be an important game for the Lions.

After the Vikings, the Lions face the Packers (twice in four weeks) and Texans and also have a tough final two games against the Falcons and rival Bears.

While a loss to the Vikings isn't insurmountable in Week 10 (especially with games against the Colts and Cardinals), it certainly starts the stretch run off on the wrong foot.

It's a tough task, though perhaps easier for the fact that it's the second meeting and the Vikings should be a much better team by this point in the schedule with Adrian Peterson back.

While the offense will be critical (and face a tough challenge stopping Suh and company), the defense will have to prove itself against one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL.

The Lions will want to win this game, if just because they "should."

A Vikings' win could make a huge difference in the divisional and conference standings at the end of the year.

Home Against the Chicago Bears: Week 14

Another game which is the second in a series and close on the heels of the first, this home matchup will find the Bears looking at a tough end of the schedule as they head home to face the Packers the next week and then travel to Detroit to end the season.

A loss to the Vikings could make that "end of the season" literal as the games against the other division rivals are no sure thing.

Both defenses are pretty evenly matched, so it will be the offenses who make the difference. Can the Vikings score enough to match Jay Cutler and the Bears?

It's a far more winnable game than many will give it credit for, though by no means easy.  Meeting twice in three weeks makes things hard for the Bears. It's tough to beat the same team twice, much less in a two-week period.

If the Vikings can pull this off, the Bears could be in a bind.

Home Against the Green Bay Packers: Week 16

The final game on this list is also the final game of the season—a division rival, likely in the heat of a playoff race for position, a bye and potentially home-field advantage?

How could this not be the top spoiler chance?

We know the Packers will be tremendously tough, that the season will be exhausting and the Vikings will probably be out of the hunt.

However, the Packers could have a lot riding on this game. After their Week 10 bye, they see the Lions twice, the Giants, the Bears and what I think will be a much tougher Titans team.

Sure, the Vikings see them twice and might look like a soft game in comparison. Depending on the last six games before the final meeting, the Packers could be looking for a win to secure any number of the things I mentioned a few paragraphs ago.

We'll know what we have in the Vikings by this point—if Peterson is recovered, if anyone has stepped up across from Percy Harvin and if Ponder is truly the future of the Vikings' quarterback position.

This is one last time to show their mettle as a team, one chance to finish the 2012 season on a high note and set the right foot forward towards the 2013 season.

The Vikings will be fired up, even more so if the Packers need this win.