CHARLOTTE, N.C.  — Case Keenum’s improbable season has the Minnesota Vikings thinking playoffs.

Keenum entered the league as an undrafted rookie in 2012, one year after Cam Newton made a splash as the No. 1 overall pick by the Carolina Panthers.

While the two quarterbacks have taken dramatically different paths, it is Keenum who has the Vikings positioned to win the NFC North — and perhaps even earn home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Vikings (10-2) can clinch their second division title — and first with Keenum at the helm — in three years by beating Newton’s Panthers (8-4) on the road Sunday. Minnesota can also clinch if Green Bay and Detroit lose or tie.

Keenum’s success doesn’t surprise Panthers wide receiver Russell Shepard, who regularly works out with the fifth-year quarterback in the offseason.

“The Vikings called him last-minute,” Shepard said of Keenan signing with the Vikings last offseason. “They wanted him, kind of in his mind from what he was telling me, as a camp body, an extra guy, knowing the injuries at quarterback with Teddy (Bridgewater) still being hurt. Just to see him take off, man, it’s one of those crazy stories.”

Keenum is 8-2 as the Vikings starter since taking over for the injured Sam Bradford, after struggling in his previous 26 starts with the Rams and Texans.

Shepard said it makes for a great story.

“We’re like the misfits, like the rug rats,” said Shepard of undrafted players, of which he is one.

“In this league, in life in general, everybody wants to see the underdog succeed. Everybody wants to see the guy that nobody expected to be that guy.”

ACROSS FROM KALIL: Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen has sacked Carolina’s Cam Newton five times in two games, including three of Minnesota’s eight sacks in the 22-10 victory in Charlotte on Sept. 25, 2016. This time, he’ll be lined up across former teammate Matt Kalil, who spent the past five seasons with the Vikings.

Griffen and Kalil were also college teammates at Southern Cal, so their friendship dates back almost a decade.

“I’m going to watch my tape. I’m going to study him. I’m going to know him better than I know my phone number,” said Griffen.