As a fan of the Vikings since the late 1990s, I have experienced an unhealthy amount of anguish in just the last two decades thanks to my favorite NFL team.
Growing up in upstate New York, I rooted for teams in other sports too. But professional football has always been my passion and instead of cheering for the nearby Buffalo Bills, I opted to take another route down the fiery dumpster and root for Minnesota.
It felt like I was getting spoiled in 1998, when my fandom was still new and the Vikings’ offensive juggernaut led the team to a 15-1 record during the regular season. Little did I know, that Minnesota was going to introduce me to a future of pain and suffering.
Many know how that year ended for the Vikings, but for those who would like me to experience a few seconds of virtual torture by typing the results out once again, just know that Gary Anderson picked the NFC Championship game to miss his very first field goal of the 1998 season.
If anyone wants to know what else caused Minnesota to exit the playoffs that year, feel free to use the reliable internet search-engine known as Google because I’ve already done my best to burn anything related to that game out of my mind.
Luckily for myself and other Vikings fans, the team found its way back the NFC Championship just two seasons later in 2000. But it was a tease, only getting everyone’s hopes up once again and suffering a royal 41-0 beatdown at the hands of the New York Giants.
So only a few years into me choosing Minnesota as my squad to root for, the Vikings had already made it to the NFC Championship twice and had a good, young nucleus to build around that featured quarterback Daunte Culpepper and wide receiver Randy Moss.
Surely, they were on the path to tons of success for the next few years, right? I learned very quickly that this was nowhere close to being the case.
A season after making it all the way to the NFC Championship, the Vikings showed head coach Dennis Green the door (despite leading Minnesota to a winning record in eight of his 10 years with the team).
Remember that Moss guy? Yeah, the Vikings traded him away in 2005 because they were too fed up with his so-called “antics.”
Remember that Culpepper guy? Yeah, he blew out his knee in 2005 and was traded in 2006 to the Miami Dolphins.
And as for all of those upcoming years of success. Well, after their appearance in the 2000 NFC Championship, Minnesota made the playoffs just once during the team’s next seven seasons.
It was not until Brett Lorenzo Favre joined the team in 2009 did the Vikings make it back to the NFC Championship. Then, of course, Favre got in on the Minnesota misery and delivered his own personal heart-punch to the franchise when his fourth-quarter interception against the New Orleans Saints led to the Vikings failing to reach the Super Bowl once again.
After another year with the old gunslinger and a few seasons with Minnesota trying to convince everyone that Christian Ponder was an actual quarterback, the Vikings found themselves atop the NFC North division at the end of the 2015 season.
Any hope Minnesota had in the playoffs that year was quickly dissolved, thanks to the world-class shank by kicker Blair Walsh. The Vikings could really just write an entire novel on their bad luck with the players that depend on their foot for money.
Minnesota looked to rebound from their forgettable postseason loss in 2016 and before anyone could learn how to spell Babatunde Aiyegbusi, the Vikings were vomiting all over the practice field after quarterback Teddy Bridgewater almost lost his left leg before the start of the regular season.
If people are struggling to understand what rooting for this franchise is like, just think of the hottest guy or girl in the world saying it’s okay to hang out, but in order for this to happen he or she is entitled to hit you in the face with a baseball bat whenever the time feels right.
However, the decades of pain may actually be paying off this season.
Look no further for proof than Stefon Diggs and Case Keenum helping the Vikings shock the universe last Sunday when the two connected for the first ever walk-off touchdown in NFL playoff history.
For once, something actually went in the favor of Minnesota. For once, Vikings fans were able to experience what it was like to be on the winning side of a shocking moment.
No matter what happens in the future, Minnesota’s fans will always have the image of Diggs running untouched into the end zone for a Vikings victory. It cannot be taken away, ever.
So what exactly does the remainder of Minnesota’s time in the playoffs mean after the miracle that went down last Sunday?
Obviously, myself and the rest of the team’s fans want them to move on to the Super Bowl (which is in Minnesota) and then capture the franchise’s first-ever Vince Lombardi trophy. But knowing the Vikings, Case Keenum will probably throw five interceptions and Mike Zimmer’s other eye will fall out next weekend.
And this is me being nice.
