Everybody could sense it. The Minnesota Vikings finished 13-4, but not a single person felt that record reflected the actual team they were. When you go 11-0 in one-score games, some call you resilient, but others call you lucky. It felt like the Vikings caught a ton of fortunate breaks during their run to the NFC North title. That is why many experts didn’t blink picking the 9-7-1 New York Giants to upset them in the wild card round. Plenty of Vikings fans were upset, feeling their team was being disrespected.
Things started well. Minnesota went right down the field on their first drive and scored. After that, it felt like the Giants controlled the game. Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley gave the Vikings defense fits. Towards the end of the 4th quarter, New York went ahead 31-24. Minnesota had two golden opportunities to tie the game with seven minutes left. They failed both times. The final image was Kirk Cousins on 4th and long throwing yards in front of the sticks to end the game. It was a fitting ending.
What made it 100 times better was the tweet the Giants’ Twitter fired off after the final whistle.
Nothing gets easier for the Minnesota Vikings.
They really sold out on competing for a championship in 2022. Not only will they start this off-season $22 million over the salary cap, but they currently have four picks in the draft. That doesn’t leave them much room to get better. Quite the opposite. It won’t be a surprise if they take a substantial step backward next season, paving the way for the Detroit Lions to take over the division until the Bears conclude their rebuild. Nobody is likely to be upset about that. Watching the Minnesota Vikings crash and burn is an annual tradition enjoyed everywhere.
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GM Ryan Poles said he wanted to blow up the roster when he interviewed for the Vikings job. He felt the team had run its course and needed a reboot, starting with Kirk Cousins. Ownership wasn’t comfortable with that. It is one of the critical reasons Poles chose to take over the Bears. Now the Vikings are stuck in purgatory while Chicago has a head start on them in rebuilding. Don’t be surprised if their next meetings have wildly different results compared to this season.
