The Agony and the Agony (the 2010 Vikings)

Gutted, absolutely gutted. I don't even know where to start. 2010 has now crept into the realm of 1998. This one may just sting even worse. Never has a game been that winnable. We were yards away from a kick to go to the Super Bowl. I've never experienced a Vikings Super Bowl. Guess I'll just have to wait longer. I bought into this team. I was a sceptic at first but once the season started the talent was undeniable. I got roped in. On November 24th, I wrote my post about the 1998 heartbreak. At the end of that post I added this sense of hope regarding this years team,

"Why did I decide to write about this? Because at about 3 AM on November 24, it occured to me that this current Vikings team has got me believing again. That same feeling of destiny I felt 11 years ago as a little boy is slowly coming back. I'm dreaming of Super Bowls again, and I love it."

I set my expectations for Super Bowl, and was disappointed. Hartley may as well have been Morten Anderson. We hoped, prayed that he'd kick it wide, but knew he'd make it. And there it goes straight through the uprights. We all know the feeling. Then, silence. It's a stunned silence. It's your first realizaton that it's over. In a way we were all in it together. I think most Viking fans are trained to expect the worse but hope for the best. That's definitely how I am. Watching today's game I just hoped we could win so bad. I wanted a Super Bowl berth at least. But all the while I almost expected something bad to happen. We're used to it by this point. We're one of the most tortured fan bases in the sport. We've now lost 5 straight NFC championship games. Why us? What'd we ever do to deserve this? We're just a bunch of Minnesotans who love our team. Minnesota is known for being friendly so why? "Why us?" is the question that keeps running through my mind. Why does it have to happen to us every time? Every bounce went the Saints way. Every call late in the game went their way. They didn't even beat us. We beat ourselves. The Saints should hardly be considered the winner in this game, it was just that we were the losers.

Words can't even describe how much we outplayed them. As a fan I am extremely loyal to my team's players. I will defend them to no end because I usually can't bear to bash them. A good example is the Twins this year. Everyone bashed Punto when we lost, but I felt for him. I stood up for him because I watched him give everything he had in him to that team. A better example is Gary Anderson. Most of my fellow fans use him as their punching bag. I just can't do it. I watched him hit so many kicks for us. Yes, he missed the big one but we were still up 7 and the D didn't stop them. I know I know, maybe Anderson was completely to blame but I never said how I think is rational. I just love my players. It's easy to play the blame game (the blame game might be the easiest game of all in fact, even more so than go fish), but football is a team sport in which a loss can not be blamed on any single person. Yes, Favre threw a costly (which is putting it lightly) pick. Yes, the throw was dumb, yes he should've thrown to Shiancoe along the sideline or ran which would've easily gotten us 8 yards. That's the most glaring error, but then we remember AP's fumbles, Harvin's fumble, Berrian's fumble. AP had the most costly fumble at the end of the first half. We were practically gifted points after Bush's fumble and the handoff was screwed up. A simple handoff that they've done tens of thousands of times. AP picked himself up after the fumbles and scored 3 TD's at least. Harvin's fumble may have been worse. He gifted New Orleans a touchdown by fumbling deep in our territory. There's just so many oppurtunities that were missed. You can go crazy thinking of all the ways that game should've been ours. We can't even blame the refs, although I'll never believe that Pierre Thomas got past the first down marker on that fourth down. I never will.

There's nothing worse than a season ending loss. Where do we go from here? It feels like we've spent 5 months climbing a mountain, then tumbled down when we were within site of the summit. It's a long, hard climb back up too. Is it all worth it? Of course it is. For a real fan anyway. It's worth it because when we finally do reach that promised land, the win will taste that much sweeter. Defeats like this are like spices that add to the dish when it's finally done. The dish would taste fine alone, but those spices add a little something extra. That is some optimism on my part.

Tomorrow, I will wake up (I assume). For a few moments I will be at peace, well sort of considering I'll be tired. The point is I won't yet recall what happened to my team yet. These few moments are the best time of the day. There's no worries, your mind hasn't yet collected itself. Then, BOOM!, your memories kick in and it hits you like a freight train. It's as if you're finding out all over again. "The Vikings season is over", I will think to myself. Then I'll remember all the ways we could've won that game. It's just a haunting experience that all fans know of. Then for years you will kick yourself saying things like "that was our year". Well we've now had two of those years. 2010 is 25 days old but it can't escape having the same stigma that 1998 does.

Finally, I just want to thank this Vikings team for being such a fun team to follow. I love the personalities we have and they genuinely looked like they all got along in that locker room. I know no one is more disappointed than they are right now.