A win at AAMI Park on Saturday against Brisbane, who are out of finals contention, would have sealed third place ahead of Sydney and Macarthur, who play each other on Saturday night.
But Tony Popovic's charges rarely looked threatening in a stale performance while they played almost a half with 10 men after Geria was sent off in the 51st minute.
The Roar had 22 shots (four on target) to Victory's eight (two).
Victory (42 points) are currently third ahead of Sydney (38) and Macarthur (38) and could be caught by both if the Sky Blues and Bulls draw, then both win in the final round.
Victory face seventh-placed Western Sydney at home next Saturday.
Popovic admitted his players were better when they went down to 10 men, and praised their first clean sheet in two months - after conceding in eight straight games.
Melbourne Victory coach Tony Popovic was delighted with his side's first clean sheet in two months. (Will Murray/AAP PHOTOS)
"It's a missed opportunity to win another game going into the finals, but we've kept a clean sheet and it might be 10-odd games since we've done that - and we did it with 10 men," he said.
"So a lot of character. We've got to learn from this and take it into the Wanderers game, which is an important game.
"But also Wanderers need to win to try and get in, so it's a good game for us to play before the finals.
"We're not thinking about that (being caught by Sydney or Macarthur). We want to win this last match before the finals, and we know if we do that we secure third or fourth, definitely."
Geria caught Corey Brown in the shin with his studs in a sliding tackle and was initially booked, before being sent off after a VAR review.
He will be suspended for at least the Wanderers game, but if the panel takes a dim view of the incident, he could miss the elimination final.
Popovic hoped the defender would only miss a week, but said he hadn't seen the challenge so couldn't assess the extent of it.
Brisbane had a plethora of chances to win the game.
Henry Hore hit the post in the 39th minute and Victory goalkeeper Paul Izzo made multiple saves, including an incredible leaping fingertip effort to deny Nikola Mileusnic in the 65th minute.
Bruno Fornaroli cleared a Mileusnic shot off the line just after halftime, but went goalless himself after fumbling a chance in the 76th minute.
"We were totally dominant, which was good,'' said "proud" interim Roar coach Ruben Zadkovich.
"Obviously, we'd like to take some of those chances, and I'm sure some of those boys would like a few of those moments over again.
"But to create the chances from things that we've worked on is a massive positive and something we can definitely take moving forward."
