The Minnesota Vikings made NFL history in Week 15 against the Indianapolis Colts. Following a first half in which they stunk up U.S. Bank Stadium with a 33-0 deficit, the Purple and Gold entered the locker room to a chorus of boos from the sellout crowd. But instead of taking a page out of Rudy Gobert‘s playbook, the Vikings took full responsibility for their lackluster 30 minutes of football and responded by outscoring the Colts 39-3 in the second half and overtime.
Everyone had something to say about this team in the first half — and none of it was pretty. From the national talking heads, who have long believed this team to be fraudulent, to even the most loyal Skoldiers scattered throughout the state. (Everyone except my wife’s aunt, who, without a sliver of doubt, never wavered in her belief that the Vikings would ultimately pull it out against the Colts.)
Skeptics will continue to point to Minnesota’s point differential this season (plus-two). Historically speaking, most 11-3 NFL teams have a much larger discrepancy in their point differential. And most 11-3 teams aren’t dead-last in yardage allowed (Ed Donatell’s defense is giving up 399 yards per game).
But this squad clearly doesn’t resemble any other 11-3 teams. And for Minnesota sports fans who have been suffering for 30-plus years, these Vikings are singlehandedly changing the psyche of our sports fandom. Since LeBron James and the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers captured the NBA Championship against the 73-win Golden State Warriors, the Twin Cities have taken the torch as the city with the longest championship drought among the four major men’s professional sporting leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL).
Let’s be honest. If you’re a Minnesota sports fan and have been paying even the slightest amount of attention to any of the men’s pro teams over the past three decades, you probably have some semblance of understanding of how this typically goes. Minnesota sports fans love to celebrate reaching the playoffs, even though roughly half of the teams in each conference punch their tickets to the postseason in the NFL, NBA, and NHL. We celebrate avoiding the bottom-half of our respective conferences because Minnesota sports fans carry an innate fatalistic sense of doom. Deep down in our sports fandom heart, we all know our favorite teams will figure out a way to blow it — usually in epic proportion.
But time and time again this season, these Vikings are instilling a newfound sense of hope for Minnesotans that make a conscious decision to support the men’s professional sports franchises in this town. No deficit has proven too large for Kevin O’Connell and his ball club. Whether it’s a double-digit fourth-quarter disadvantage to the Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills — or being in a 33-point hole at halftime to Indianapolis — these Vikings have given fans every reason to believe that they will fight their way back and figure out a way to pull out a victory in the end, style points be damned.
Let’s circle back on Minnesotans’ propensity for celebrating playoff berths with little to no accountability for anything more — such as winning a championship — for our men’s pro sports organizations. Regardless of which Minnesota team holds that special place in your heart, we can all agree that the Vikings have been the franchise that consistently gives Minnesotans reason to believe that a championship is coming. Although no Minnesota men’s pro team has even played for a championship since the 1991 Twins, the Vikings have gotten the closest.
- The Wild’s lone “Final Four” appearance came in 2003.
- The Timberwolves’ lone “Final Four” appearance came in 2004.
- Since the 1991 World Series, the Twins’ lone “Final Four” appearance came in 2002.
The Vikings have reached the “Final Four” in 1998, 2000, 2009, and 2017.
If the Twin Cities have any intentions of shedding the Loserville, USA distinction by ending their 31-year championship drought in men’s pro sports, it’s more than likely going to be the Vikings.
However, it’s imperative that we keep our expectations in check for the here and now. If you’re a Minnesotan who is truly expecting a Lombardi Trophy for the 2022 Vikings, you’re anticipating something that has been accomplished on just two occasions in NFL history. If O’Connell reaches the mountaintop and wins the Super Bowl this season, he will be the third head coach in NFL history to win it all in their first season, joining Don McCafferty in 1970 with the Baltimore Colts and George Seifert (after replacing the legendary Bill Walsh) in 1989 with the San Francisco 49ers.
It’s long overdue for Minnesotans to raise their standards. (I’m looking at you, Timberwolves fans, who continue to enable the franchise after the Gobert fleece-job of a trade and Karl Anthony-Towns’ quarter-billion dollar extension.) And the Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell regime have proven in their debut season that the Super Bowl is realistically within reach.
But let’s not forget that this is a franchise led by a general manager and head coach in their first seasons in those particular chairs. And NFL history has taught us these feats typically take time. Despite having one of the league’s greatest winning percentages, O’Connell’s old boss, Sean McVay, needed five years to get it done. Speaking of elite-level winning percentages, Andy Reid had to wait 21 years before his first Super Bowl. If a five- or 21-year wait doesn’t exactly tickle your fancy, Mike Tomlin won his Super Bowl in Year 2 with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008.
With an 11-plus-win season and NFC North crown in Year 1, the bar has been set at the Lombardi Trophy — but it’s a bar they’ll most likely clear eventually rather than immediately.
But while we’re in the here and now, the single greatest achievement this new regime accomplished in their debut season is altering Minnesota sports fans’ mindset for their favorite teams. It’s been 20-plus years since the Vikings had this much hope, excitement, and plain old-fashioned fun going for them. O’Connell’s postgame speeches and game ball deliveries have become must-see viewing for Skoldiers. Show of hands: How many of you joined O’Connell in getting swept up with emotion after his latest postgame locker room speech after the biggest comeback in NFL history?
It’s more than fair to acknowledge the copious flaws this team has at the moment. But the 2022 Vikings are the picture-perfect example of appreciating the journey and not necessarily fixating on how and when it will end this season. Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell have given fans every reason to believe that they will deliver a Super Bowl — it just might not happen in Year 1.
And that’s completely fine for now.
