What Was That?

It wasn't supposed to end like that.

Who knows if the Minnesota Vikings were still in a daze from their thrilling win last week when they took the field in Philadelphia to face the Eagles this week for the NFC Championship? All of the things that the Vikings did really well this season were absent. They won 14 of 17 games with excellent defense and steady, mistake-free offense. The Vikings defense was absent for nearly all of the 34 minutes that the Eagles offense held the ball. The Vikings offense made three trips to the red zone and didn't score a point. They turned the ball over three times. One of which was returned 50 yards for a score. That was the play that got the Eagles chugging and the Vikings reeling. 38-7! Other than scoring on their opening drive the Vikings really did nothing right. Four football teams played on Championship Sunday. Three of them looked like they really wanted to get to the Super Bowl.

Who knows if the Vikings were looking past the Eagles and toward a Super Bowl that was going to be played in their own stadium? Anything can happen in an NFL playoff game. A win can be assured one moment and it can suddenly become a loss the next. No playoff game is a win before it's played. Despite knowing that more that a little part of me felt that this Vikings team was destined to play in that "home" Super Bowl. I wasn't alone. The entire state of Minnesota was jacked for their team to play in that game. Destiny? Everyone associated with this Vikings team seemed to feel that something would guide them to the big game. So much so that many viewed the Eagles as a mere nuisance. Perhaps the team did as well. I didn't recognize that Vikings defense yesterday.

This game will be tossed into the Viking rubbish bin that holds soul-crushing NFC Championship blowouts. A bin that holds the 23-6 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in 1977 and the 41-0 no-show to the New York Giants in 2000. This loss might be the toughest because this Vikings team was the most talented. It was the most deserving to be playing for a shot at the Super Bowl. The Vikings have another rubbish bin that holds soul-crushing NFC Championship games of the other sort. The games that they coulda, shoulda, woulda won. 1987, 1998, and 2009. The last six times the Vikings made it this far they didn't get any closer. That has to change.

They have the team that can change it.

The 2017 Minnesota Vikings were a really fun team. A wonderful, entertaining, talented team of fighters. This was a fun season. 13 wins. The thrilling win over the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional round made it 14 wins. That's a strong showing. It's terribly unfortunate that their last game was their worst game.

I can't wait for the 2018 version of the Minnesota Vikings.