It was somewhat believable when the Minnesota Vikings made it all the way to the NFC Championship game. They had the best runningback in the league (Adrian Peterson), the SAX machine (Jared Allen), the run stopping power (Pat and Kevin Williams) and, maybe the most important, the veteran, retired, not retired, retired, and once again not retired quarterback (Brett Favre). Everything about them in the stat book said, "Super Bowl here we come." Being a Vikings fan, I was very excited! But, being a Vikings fan, I also was ready to expect the worst. Vikings have a way of building up your confidence, and then flushing all of your hopes and dreams down the toilet like they never mattered in the first place. They do it every year, and it just absolutely kills you, but you know when you are a true Viking fan, because you keep coming back.
The 2009-2010 season started out amazing. Brett Favre led the team to a great start, and finished the season with a record of 12-4, earning themselves a bye in the playoffs. Vikings fans were pleased. In fact Prince, the recording artist, who is one of the Vikings biggest fans was seen at their first playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. He was so inspired by his teams performance, that he wrote a song for them entitled "Purple and Gold". The Vikings went on the beat the Cowboys in a, not even close enough to call it a game, with a score of 34-3. The chances of a Super Bowl appearance was looking great. They just needed to beat the Saints in the NFC Championship game.
It wasn't going to be easy. The Saints began the season 13-0, and Drew Brees (Quarterback of the Saints) was having the season of his life. He was averaging 276.4 passing yards per game this season, ranking second in the league. The game came down to third down and about ten yards with a score of 28-28. The Vikings had the ball, and were in range for a 55 yard field goal. This was not impossible for Ryan Longwell, the veteran kicker for the Vikings. His longest field goal was 55 yards, so the Vikings were in good shape. All they had to do was run one more hand off play up the middle, call a time out, and kick the 55 yard field goal to win. If Longwell were to miss, the worst that would happen is the game would go into overtime, so what did they have to lose? Well, instead of running the ball, Brad Childress decided he would take his chances at throwing a pass with his veteran quarterback, trusting he would throw it away if no one was open. Brett Favre threw an interception on this play and all in all lost the game for the Vikings. The Saints ran down the clock for overtime, won the coin toss, got the ball, and kicked a field goal to win the game. I'll admit that I almost cried, but I suppose we were supposed to lose with 6 fumbles earlier in the game.
This season was a very exciting one, but in the end very disappointing. I have been and for some reason will still be a Vikings fan. When you are a Vikings fan, you tend to get used to a lot of hype for nothing.
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The media really hyped up the Minnesota Vikings this year to win the Super Bowl. The hype the media gave them was more than deserving. The media was right for giving so much attention to this high powered Viking team. With that Favre driven offense, and that unbeatable defense, who wouldn’t give them the hype?
ReplyDeleteMany people are going to bash the Vikings now in the media because they did not win the Super Bowl. If they do that, I think it would be a terrible mistake. This was a great overall season for the Minnesota Vikings. They had a great regular season and a pretty good showing in the playoffs. It is too bad that they came up just short of their ultimate goal. Being a Viking fan I know one thing, and that is they will be back next year ready to win a Super Bowl. I can envision the headlines in the newspapers next year reading: “Vikings Are Super Bowl Champions”!
I know that it was a devastating end to a spectacular season for the Vikings fan, because I am one of them. Before this year, I had never really been a fan of watching football. I was a Vikings fan because they were the team that everyone around me watched. But, this year I became a true Vikes fan. I watched almost every game. That had never happened before. I just wasn’t a fan of football. Brett Farve changed that, with a great veteran quarterback the team was exciting to watch! They played great together and were very entertaining. So, even though the Vikings didn’t win the Super Bowl, they can count myself and I’m sure many others as new true fans.
ReplyDeleteI am not a Viking fan at all, but I am a football fan and there is no way that people can't have respect for what Brett Favre did for the Vikings team. At the beginning of the season when Favre was retiring or he wasn't retiring, once he decided to join the Vikings, they were automatically pushed up in the post-season rankings because of that one man. The Vikings would not have made it as far as they did without Brett Favre, even though some people realize that and some don't. As I was watching the game last night, after a couple of hard, maybe illegal, hits, Brett Favre was slow getting up after each and every one. Vikings fans should try and be prepared if Favre doesn't come back and be ready for another rebuilding season.
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