NFC Title Game: To go boldly where no (host) team has ever gone before!

So, it’s time to put the miracle in the rear-view.  Now there’s a phrase used in everyday life.

The 2017 Minnesota Vikings have already made history after one playoff game.  If you believe that there is a curse specifically targeting the Vikings, they may have destroyed it with the Minneapolis Miracle only to encounter another one: something called the home field curse.

As we all know, no team has ever had home field advantage in the Super Bowl, and no matter how hard the NFL tries to play it (AFC being designated the “home team” as per usual rotation), if the Vikings make it, they will be the home team.  There’s no way around it. 

The other part of the “home field curse” is that no one had ever made it past the divisional round of the playoffs in the year their city hosted the big game; something the Vikings have already done thanks to Case Keenum and Stefon Diggs putting the Saints’ season through a table Dudley Boyz style.  The Vikings already conquered one part of the curse by being one of the few host teams to make the playoffs in the first place.  This is uncharted territory.  

Minnesota’s opponent on Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles, are not a victim of this curse, because Philly has never hosted a Super Bowl.  But they, like the Vikings, have also never won one.  That is the best thing about the championship games this year; three of the four teams have never won a Super Bowl, and one of them automatically gets that shot regardless of results.

The Eagles are definitely powered down without Carson Wentz, but I would not sleep on Nick Foles.  The Vikings defense will have to be up to the task of stopping Philly’s ground game and making them a one-dimensional team.  The Eagles only scored 15 points against Atlanta, but they seemed to make all of the right plays at the right times.  Meanwhile, we needed a rookie to falter at the worst possible time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.  Mike Zimmer said “there is no damn curse.”  If that’s true, I expect a win on Sunday.

There isn’t much more to say except I really hope this isn’t the last Vikings Cavalcade this season to review one game and talk about the next one. 

I hope to begin the next post with “THE VIKINGS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!!” 

I also hope to be able to start a Skol chant in public whenever I feel like it.  It’s all up to you now, Vikes.

Minneapolis Miracle, or "Vikings fans finally allowed to have a nice thing" Edition!

“Vikings gonna Viking.”

Those three little words were my simple response to how things had played out with 25 seconds left in the second NFC Divisional playoff game; the last football game of the weekend.  Yes, it was only a one point game at 24-23, but come on…this is the Vikings.  A missed pass interference penalty in 1975 in this very round ended what many people say was that team’s best chance to win a Super Bowl.  Even if we get into field goal range, there’s no guarantee Kai Forbath makes the kick (with apologies to Kai…he’s still a better kicker than Blair Walsh).

This team has had a recently awful track record with clutch kicks in the playoffs.  Gary Anderson hadn’t missed a single kick in 1998, and missed one that would have likely put the NFC title game away against the Falcons.  Blair Walsh missed the easiest kick of his life in the last playoff game the Vikings had. 

With all of that on our minds, why was this game any different?  We were about to lose to the freaking New Orleans Saints, the team that put a bounty on Brett Favre and were allowed to get away with it.  Of all the teams to lose to, only the Saints or the Packers (if they had run the table) could have hurt this much. 

But then, Stefon Diggs caught that pass and somehow stayed on his feet as two Saints ran into each other, giving him a free path to the end zone.  Before the game, if you had told me one of these teams would win like that, I would have assumed the Saints.  Because a receiver breaking free for a last-second winning touchdown after two defensive players collided seems like a vintage Vikings choke moment that may or may not have happened at some point.

Somehow, some way, the Vikings now have their miracle playoff moment, like Pittsburgh and the Immaculate Reception, which turned that franchise’s entire history around.  The Steelers won four Super Bowls in seven years following Franco Harris’s immortal play, so perhaps there are greater things in store for the Vikings even if they are unable to “Bring It Home” this Sunday with a win over the Eagles.

Then again, how do we know that the Minnesota/Minneapolis Miracle wasn’t the start of such a thing?  There’s only one way to find out; by tuning in to the NFC Title game at 5:40 p.m. on Sunday.  Here’s hoping if we win, we don’t need another miracle to do so.

And here's the miracle itself, one more time, because I will never get tired of this.

https://youtu.be/OKgUiBOpsZ4

Divisional: The Exorcist Edition!

The Vikings have been running a "bring it home" campaign detailing everyone for whom they want to win the Super Bowl.  With this weekend's opponent, I think a certain quarterback should be added to that list.  Yeah, you know the guy.  The guy Bountygate hurt the most; Brett Favre.

But enough about the past.  Today is about exorcising some demons.  Neither Atlanta or Philadelphia should have struck fear into the heart of either team playing this afternoon at USBank Stadium.  Therefore, it's my prediction that the winner of today's game will go on to beat the Eagles next week and represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

It's a pretty simple task, beat the Saints and go on to play a severely weakened Eagles team.  It has been eight years since the Vikings beat the Cowboys in the divisional round, and they haven't won a playoff game since (thanks, Blair Walsh).

But, it's also the Vikings, a team that is 17-28 all-time in playoff games.  I'd say it's time to turn things around.