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Case Keenum tells reporters that he’s a big Teddy Bridgewater fan and says that he raises the “cool factor of the quarterback group.”

LANDOVER, Maryland — The Minnesota Vikings are 7-2 and Case Keenum has started seven of the games as their quarterback.

You had that, right? Back in August, when you were making your NFL season predictions, you had the Vikings at 7-2 with Keenum the quarterback? Sure you did.

You probably also had the New Orleans Saints at 7-2, rolling into Buffalo in Week 10 and hanging 47 on the No. 6-ranked scoring defense without a single Drew Brees touchdown pass.

And you had both of those teams a game behind the 8-1 Philadelphia Eagles, with the Los Angeles Rams duking it out atop the NFC West with the Seattle Seahawks and the Carolina Panthers comfortably between those first-place Saints and the third-place Atlanta Falcons in the South.

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If you did predict all of this — heck, if you predicted any of it — we’d like your thoughts on this week’s lottery numbers. And by “we,” I mean me and Case Keenum, who seems as amused about what’s going on with him and the Vikings as anyone.

“Just feels good, is all,” Keenum said after throwing for 304 yards, four touchdowns and two keep-em-in-the-game second-half interceptions in the Vikings’ 38-30 victory over Washington here Sunday. “I love this squad, I love this team, I love this offense, I love these coaches and we’re having fun.”

Yeah, 7-2 is fun, no doubt, and the Vikings are feeling no pain right now. They’ve won five games in a row, increasing their point total each week, and hold a two-game lead in the NFC North on both the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers. This past week, they put Week 1 starting quarterback Sam Bradford on injured reserve and activated former starter Teddy Bridgewater. The latter’s return to the starting lineup might feel like a foregone conclusion to lots of folks around the team, and certainly to most on the outside. But career backup Keenum doesn’t seem too bothered by any of it.

“Teddy’s a fan favorite. He’s my favorite, too,” Keenum said. “I may have a Teddy Bridgewater jersey at home. Teddy definitely raises the cool factor of the quarterback group. Tremendously.”

That’s Keenum, talking about the guy everybody thinks is about to take his job. That’s where the Vikings are right now. They’re 7-2 and don’t seem all the way sure about how.

“Case played outstanding,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said, then in the next breath, “I wish the two throws he had in the second half he would not have made. But you know, he’s an excitable guy and he needs to understand what are the good plays and what are the bad plays sometimes.”

Said Keenum the Excitable: “I need to not make a bad play worse. I gave them a couple of gifts.”

You wonder, looking ahead, how long this can last. The Vikings play two very tough games in the next 11 days — home this Sunday to the first-place Rams and then at Detroit on Thanksgiving. Two straight road games in Atlanta and Carolina follow that, and by the time they’re through that gauntlet we’ll have some better idea about how good the Vikings are, what their best option is at quarterback and what their chances are of becoming the first team to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium.

It’s not crazy to imagine this team as a real contender. The Vikings made the playoffs as division champs two years ago and started 5-0 last season before a brutal run of injury attrition on the offensive line cost them any chance of making good on that. They hit the line hard in free agency, brought back the core of a smothering defense, and their wide receiver duo of Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs makes a case as the very best in the NFL. You could convince yourself that they’re a quarterback away, but the way Keenum’s playing, that may be underselling them.

“Yeah, wins, they all count the same,” Vikings safety Harrison Smith said. “Obviously, from a defensive side, we don’t want to give up that many points, so there’s a lot of work to be done there. But a win’s a win. We did enough to win.”

Tottenham Hotspur escaped the Group of Death, and then some.

On Wednesday, Tottenham laughed at those who thought Spurs would be unable to reach the Champions League knockout phase, defeating Real Madrid 3-1 at Wembley Stadium to qualify for the tournament’s last 16. It was a phenomenal night for the English club, which outplayed Los Blancos in all aspects of the game and could have scored more than three goals.

Dele Alli, who made his first appearance in the Champions League this season and endured a bumpy start to the campaign, overshadowed Harry Kane, who was returning from a hamstring problem. The English midfielder opened the scoring in the 27th minute, one-timing the ball into the back of the net after Nacho needlessly produced a throw-in, although the assistant referee failed to note that Kieran Trippier was in an offside position.

Alli then doubled Tottenham’s lead in the 56th minute, beating Casemiro twice and striking the ball past Kiko Casilla via a deflection off Sergio Ramos. Spurs’ third was produced by Christian Eriksen, while Cristiano Ronaldo scored what proved to be nothing more than a consolation goal for Madrid.

“It was a fantastic performance from us,” Alli said, according to the Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg. “We knew if we stuck to the game plan and stayed solid at the back, we would have a lot of chances. We spoke after the game at their place and couldn’t believe the space we had. The easy pass was sometimes too obvious at times. We don’t want to compete with these teams, we want to be winning.”

Tottenham’s last adventure in Europe – in which Spurs were eliminated from the Champions League in the group stage and subsequently tasted defeat to KAA Gent in the Europa League – now feels like a distant memory.

Lance Dunbar was added to the Los Angeles Rams’ active roster Saturday and is expected to serve as the new backup for star running back Todd Gurley, a need in the wake of Malcolm Brown’s recent knee injury.

Dunbar, who spent the previous five seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, was signed as a free agent but missed the entirety of the offseason program and training camp because of a pre-existing knee issue. He began the year on the physically unable to perform list, but has been practicing with the Rams over the last two weeks.

Dunbar won’t have much of a workload, given that Gurley ranks third in the NFL with 190 touches and gadget receiver Tavon Austin has acted as something of a change-of-pace running back. But Dunbar has proven to be effective catching passes out of the backfield and could also play a role on special teams.

The Champions League group stage is two-thirds toward completion, and for each continental power struggling to secure progression to the knockout stage, a fresh face is making a claim to enter the discussion.

Two-time defending champ Real Madrid appears a shadow of its former self, Juventus, the side it beat last in June’s final, has faced its fair share of obstacles, and last year’s semi-finalists Monaco and Atletico Madrid perilously hang onto narrow hopes.

Conversely, continental tenderfoots Manchester City, Tottenham, and Besiktas have the look of world-beaters and suddenly, the 2017-18 Champions League is a wide-open affair.

With the knockout stage picture less murky after Wednesday’s fixtures, gaze into a crystal ball and have your say below: