Let’s face it: being a Minnesota Vikings fan is hard. The team constantly toys with the hearts and the sanity of its fans. They find a way to give us great regular season performances and then implode come playoffs. They make big ticket, free agent or draft acquisitions, and then they fail spectacularly.
Just last season, they gave us perhaps the greatest walk-off touchdown in football history with the “Minneapolis Miracle,” only to fall the week after to a Nick Foles led Eagles team 38-7 in the NFC Championship game.
They have sported Hall of Fame talent with the likes of Cris Carter, Randy Moss and Paul Krause, yet they have never been able to win come Superbowl Sunday.
There is perhaps no other team that has had so much regular season success but has never been able to bring a title home.
But all that doesn’t matter. They don’t need a Lombardi trophy to keep fans happy. We are Vikings fans through and through. Purple and gold courses through our veins. Fans could have abandoned the Vikings years ago for more successful franchises, but fans would never do that because these colors do not run. And maybe, one day, fans be rewarded for our patience.
The Vikings are poised to make a run at another NFC North title, needing only to overcome a hobbled Aaron Rodgers, an anemic Bears offense and a Lions team that is looking very much like their 2008 counterpart.
Finally, the front office has adopted a win-now attitude, giving the elite players Anthony Barr, Adam Thielen, and Stefon Diggs blockbuster, multi-million dollar contracts. They have also finally found the quarterback of the future by throwing big money at former Washington Redskins player Kirk Cousins.
With a defense fully committed to a potent pass rush led by Everson Griffen and the lethal rushing of second-year running back Dalvin Cook, the Vikings are looking like a complete team that is capable of beating the top brass teams of the NFL.
Then again, they did just lose 26-7 to one of the worst teams in the league, the Buffalo Bills, so maybe this season will be another rollercoaster ride for Vikings fans.
