The Vikings made history on Saturday by overcoming the largest deficit in league history with a victory. Down 33-0 at halftime, the Vikings eventually tied the game at 36 and won it in overtime.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins didn’t realize he was engineering history. He believed the Bills (backed that day by fired Colts coach Frank Reich) erased a 35-0 deficit to beat the Oilers in the 1992 playoffs.
“I knew it was 35-3,” Cousins told Albert Briere of SI.com. “I knew it was 35-3, but I thought it was 35-0 before it was 35-3.”
It was the second epic game of the year for the Vikings, five weeks after a 33-30 overtime epic on the same field where Oilers-Bills took place nearly 30 years ago. Coupled with the many other wafer-thin margins for Minnesota this year, it contributes to the feeling that they have something special.
“It just doesn’t happen to normal people,” Cousins told Briere. “And this team has rarely been around and shown an uncommon level of chemistry, toughness toward each other, and I think it showed today.”
When that happened in Week 10, there was a temporary sense that the Vikings were the 2022 Team of Destiny. And then, just one week later, they were blown out by the Cowboys at home, 40-3. It was the Vikings’ worst loss in Minnesota since John F. Kennedy was president.
This time, the win clinched a division title that looked more than a little sloppy. But the Vikings are still facing a No. 2 seed at best, barring an epic, late-season collapse by the Eagles. And with the 49ers reeling off seven straight, the No. 2 seed is far from guaranteed, meaning the divisional round could consist of another trip to Santa Clara, where the Vikings were blown out by a 49ers team in 2019. , which can actually be. even better now.
So, as much as the Vikings proved they still have a horse on their ass by beating Indy after falling behind 33-0, they’re going to need a lot more luck to get this thing past the district round. .
Maybe after yesterday they are convinced they can get lucky when and where they need to.
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