With
apologies to Little Orphan Annie, it truly is a hard knock life for Vikings
fans.
Ah,
2015. David Bowie, Prince, Glenn Frey,
and a bunch of other people were still alive, and the Vikings won the NFC
North. Good times, good times.
A year
later, 8-8, over 9,000 injuries and a wasted opportunity to truly do something
great is all we got. Though let’s be
honest, this season was stolen from Vikings fans. Teddy Bridgewater falling down and destroying
his knee was something that could only happen to the Vikings. Sam Bradford was a good bandage, but
somewhere down the line, it all fell apart and the Vikes could not stop the
bleeding.
Despite all
of that, the real reason it’s tough to be a Vikings fan is because…they did
it. As of this writing, the Green Bay
Packers are division champions. And
unlike the Vikings last year, they’ll probably go on to win a fifth Super Bowl
and we will never hear the end of it.
Admit it, fellow fans; you’re more upset about that than about the
Vikings collapsing. I think a lot of us
would have forgiven a lost season if the Vikes could have knocked off Green Bay
on Christmas and possibly kept them out of the playoffs. But no, the Packers continue to increase the
gap and get another year to make “empty trophy case” jokes.
And I don’t
think the Vikings will ever catch up. Indeed, as a wise man once said, "they have everything, we have nothing."
So farewell,
2016-17 season. Maybe the draft will be
good. Perhaps the Vikings will find the
missing pieces to do well next year.
Or, it could
all turn to crap again because Winter Park was built over a sacred burial
ground.
At least the
Vikings went 1-0 against the Packers in “our house” in 2016. Of course, you know they’ll probably return
the favor by winning the Super Bowl when we host it next February.
Boy, it was
fun when the Vikings were good last year and in the first five games this
year. How I yearn for those times to
return again. The silver lining is that
there won’t be a Blair Walsh vs Seattle moment in this year’s postseason, and
that’s about all we can be happy about.
Ouch.
Well, we
beat the Bears anyway. Here's to 2017. Maybe we'll be good?
For added effect, re-read this post with this video accompaniment...
