Week 16: The prime time curse is over (for now)!

Boy did Sunday night feel good.  Yes, the Giants had nothing for which to play.  Yes, Odell Beckham sat out the game due to his own stupidity the previous week. 

When they eventually got started offensively, the Vikings outclassed the Giants and looked like the far better team.  Aside from a couple of touchdowns given up when the game was out of hand, the Vikings defense played brilliantly and for once, they buried a bad team like all of the other good teams do, instead of struggling to win like earlier in the season.  Well, to be fair, they beat the Bears by 21 last week, too.

Sure, this barely counted as a “big win” for the Vikings (according to some people) due to the quality of the opponent, but try telling that to most Vikings fans.  Personally, I will gladly take any game where my team can hang 49 on the other team.  Teddy didn’t exactly light the Giants up like many thought he might, but you don’t have to throw for 350 and 3 when you can run the ball like the Vikings can at their best.

Perhaps the biggest reason for jubilation after Sunday night is this; the Vikings finally won in prime time.  The Arizona game was the first time in a while that the Vikings did not embarrass their fans under the lights, and, though playing a much inferior opponent this time around, I think it’s safe to say fans are more than happy with Sunday’s victory over the Giants. 

But…there is another.

The Packers still loom large in that week 17 matchup which has (not surprisingly) become the feature game of the week.  That’s right, the Vikings become one of the few teams to play in back-to-back SNF games since its arrival on NBC in 2006 (I’m guessing there weren’t many situations like this in the ESPN days since they didn’t have flex scheduling in those years).

But, that is another story for another day.  For now, let’s just enjoy the fact that we’ve made the playoffs for the first time since 2012.