Brace Yourself: History Says this Vikings Season Ends in NFC Championship Heartbreak

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So, I know everyone out there right now is getting prepped for another border battle between the Vikings and Packers; the latest of which installments will be played at US Bank Stadium tonight, on Monday Night Football. It’s a massive game with plenty of playoff implications, when looking from afar.

With a win, the Vikings will be tied with the Packers for the division lead. Green Bay still holds the tiebreak and will have to lose next week vs Detroit, in order to surrender the NFC North to the Vikings, but weirder things have happened. A Vikings win also still keeps the NFC’s 5-seed within reach, even if the Pack walk away with the North. Again, it looks like a massive game… until you realize the Vikings’ fate for this season might already be signed sealed and delivered…

With last weekend’s victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, the Vikings became 10-4. It’s only the 5th time in the last 30+ years that the Vikings have started 10-4 or better. Vikings fans know those seasons all too well too…. because all four ended in NFC Championship heartbreak.

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That’s right… there have been a lot of great Vikings teams over the years, many of them achieving great regular season records long before the epic 1998 season that changed everything for the Minnesota Vikings franchise. Most of those great early teams were led by Bud Grant, but Jerry Burns achieved 10-4 in 1988 too… only to lose out of divisional round.

But before the 1998-99 season, the Vikings drafted Randy Moss. That day is widely accepted as the day everything changed for the Minnesota Vikings organization. Drafting Randy Moss turned out to be the key in getting a Minnesota Franchise AS CLOSE AS IT POSSIBLY CAN BE to a large-market team… with a large international following. Well, there’s been another trend that’s continued since that season too:

The Minnesota Vikings end great seasons in NFC Championship heartbreak.

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  •  1998 – Wide Left
  • 2000 – 40-0
  • 2009 – Favre Across the Body
  • 2017 – 38-7
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Today’s Vikings fan have these four seasons forever etched into their brains. All of them ending in heartbreak that has cost fans pieces of their already “Minnesota broken” hearts.

And now here we are again…. 10-4 and ready to enter an NFC Playoff tournament that is as wide-open as any we have seen in a long time. Could we be on our way to another “Wild Thing” rollercoaster ride finish that ends in tears and broken hearts?

If so……… I’ll take it. Getting close enough to smell the Super Bowl is better than never showing up to the house at all.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports fan

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