The Possibilities Are Endless With the Vikings. Soak It In.
Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images
The Minnesota Vikings are days away from their biggest regular-season game in their 60-plus-year history. That sounds like a big statement on paper, but it might not be big enough. The Vikings have a chance to have the NFC’s No. 1 seed for the first time since 1998 (Don’t think about what happened after). They’ve never had a winner-take-all match for the NFC in the final week of the season.
It’s even bigger than that. As everyone knows, the NFC North crown is on the line, meaning that for either Minnesota or the Detroit Lions, next week is the difference between home-field advantage and a first-round bye and the No. 5 seed and a Wild Card Weekend trip to Tampa Bay.
On national TV, with everyone’s eyeballs on the twin magical seasons.
Forget about just Vikings fans for a moment. This is what anyone who follows sports lives for.
Back to Minnesota, this moment — before Week 18, before the playoffs, before any wins or losses going forward — is about more than that. It’s about possibilities. For right now, anything doesn’t just feel possible. Anything is possible.
THAT’S OUR FREAKING QUARTERBACK pic.twitter.com/pEo4aqPHen
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 30, 2024
We don’t get those moments often, not with the Vikings. The Minneapolis Miracle put us on the top of the world, but the NFC Championship Game meant they had to go to Paddy’s Pub for a win in Philadelphia. They got a reality check. 2009 also felt like a potential “The Year,” but the Vikings still had to win a game in the Superdome against an all-timer QB in Drew Brees and all the dirty hits the New Orleans Saints could throw at Brett Favre. No, the last time it felt like anything was possible was 1998.
And while the regular season has one game left, the Vikings are in full control of their destiny. If they win, they are two home games away from the Super Bowl. Minnesota will have beaten two of the top three teams in the NFC (having not played the Philadelphia Eagles), and will face all comers outdoors, in the cold, in a US Bank Stadium that will be louder than two Metrodomes.
This isn’t a matter of “If X breaks their way, the Vikings can make the Super Bowl.” It’s real. It’s the reality we occupy today.
No matter what happens next, no one can take that away from you. Soak that in. Revel in it.
You just watched your favorite team beat your least favorite team in what will be, up until next week, the biggest regular-season game in recent memory. The team has 14 wins — 7.5 more than Vegas pegged them for in the preseason. And if you’ll remember, plenty of people were hammering the “Under” on 6.5. Maybe you were, too. No judgments here.
A surprise 14-win year would be enough. But it’s somehow more than that, even. You’re watching the definitive vibes team in the NFL. The face of the franchise is Justin Jefferson, a player who is brilliant on the field and exudes an effortless coolness. Sam Darnold is the avatar of an underdog team-turned-powerhouse, being an underdog QB-turned-superstar who every player on the team has fallen in love with. Kevin O’Connell‘s postgame speeches are already becoming legendary. Cam Bynum’s work as a choreographer is unparalleled in the NFL, and a sign of a team that is playing for each other and is having a blast at every turn.
We're all in this together 🎶 pic.twitter.com/ztDdLzxOua
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 29, 2024
You’re gonna remember this season for decades, no matter what happens. Take the time to take it all in now.
There’s gonna be lots of time to break down Sunday’s game, sift through the fallout of a win or loss, fret about the playoffs, and speculate about Darnold’s future in Minnesota. This isn’t it. It’s the time to enjoy the world laid out at the Vikings’ feet, marvel at what they’ve accomplished, and reflect on just how much it kicks ass to be a Vikings fan right now, at this exact moment.
This rules, and you never know when a moment like this will arrive again. Soak it in.
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