Photo by Ben Krause
The game of football is perhaps defined by the number “one.” One game, one moment, one play. When you only get one chance, one opportunity to change what was supposed to be into what you want to be, that’s football. Sometimes, that is all you get. One. Final. Chance. However unfavored, unthinkable, you still get one outrageously unlikely opportunity to turn the tides of history – one chance for a miracle.
Shock.
That is the emotion Vikings fans felt as they saw their beloved team crumble and fall once more in what is known as “classic Vikings fashion.” You see, the Vikings possess this unfortunate history of getting in their own damn way. And in the 2018 NFC Divisional Round, it was looking likely that Minnesota would once again, give that ever-so-brutal hope to their fans and crush it in their own hands.
The beginning of the season was a heartbreaker for the Vikings. QB1 Terry Bridgewater had suffered a terrible injury that left him lucky to even have intact legs. In panic, the Vikings traded away two draft picks and gambled on Philadelphia Eagles’ Sam Bradford, hardly what you would call a winning quarterback. Still, the Vikings held hope. They had a good line, good defense, good running game, receivers – all they needed to complete the puzzle was a quarterback.
Week 1, Bradford suffers a knee injury.
And that was that. If there was any doubt to the success of the Vikings prior to week 1, it was intensified monumentally. You simply need a quarterback to play the game of football, and the Vikings had gone through two even before the season really began.
So, the incredible task of succeeding fans’ high expectations given a great football team, to lead a demoralized, but still talented group of men into glory fell upon the shoulders of backup Case Keenum.
Who?
Oh yeah, that one guy that played for… the Texans? Or was it the Rams?
And that was season. There was a nobody commandeering an extremely doubting fleet. However, the as luck would have it, Vikings fans got one last kick in the head while down – hope.
The Vikings were on fire – in the good sense. They proved to be the solid team fans were expecting at the beginning of the season. Keenum was also keeping up with demands. Just keeping up, not exceeding, but hey, what else can you really ask for? Against all odds, the Vikings ended up 13-3, winning the NFC North, and even secured a bye as the number two seed from the entire NFC. From little to no expectations, the Vikings propelled themselves in a great position to make some serious noise in the playoffs.
U.S. Bank Stadium, Minnesota’s hunting grounds. A sea of purple, pulsating with visible excitement and belief that the Vikings could end their curse of seemingly inevitable mediocrity. A belief that quickly saw assurance.
17-0, Vikings lead. As the whistle blew to end the 2nd quarter, Vikings fans blew a collective sigh of relief mixed with nervousness. It was a fine lead, but definitely not a comfortable one. As far as they were concerned, the Saints’ Drew Brees with his arsenal of weapons in offense could delete the lead they waited decades for.
Soon enough, the Vikings’ worst fears were realized.
Saints touchdown. Saints intercept. Saint field goal. Saints block a field goal. The Vikings rallied, scoring a field goal of their own and extending their precarious lead to 23-21. Slightly more than a minute and a half on the clock. It was getting close, but they were still in the lead. They still held hope.
Drew Brees crushed that hope.
With a miraculous 1 minute offense, Brees willed the Saints to an eventual field goal and pushed themselves ahead of the Vikings 24-23 with 29 seconds to go.
And it was over. Just like that. Over 80 yards to go. Less than 30 on the clock. One timeout. A comeback was insurmountable, downright borderline impossible.
Still, there was hope. There was 30 seconds, however little that was. There was the most minute of chances, a possibility so slim it seemed to not exist but yet, there was a possibility.
False start, blown timeout. 3rd and out. 4th down, 60 yards to go.
And there it was. Wake up everybody, the fever dream is over. The Vikings, no matter how hope-inducing they were, are still the Vikings. What was improbable, turned impossible.
I turned away from the TV. Fans started to shuffle out of the stadium. Heads down.
One-man route. Full line coverage. 4th and 60. Keenum throws. Hail Mary.
Diggs catches.
Safety misses.
FINAL: 29-24
Miracle.
Tenny Kim 