Despite a 12-4 season, nine players on the NFC Pro Bowl team, and a #2 seed, most fans both for and against do not give the Vikings much chance in this year's playoffs. The Cowboys dismantling of the previous hottest team in the NFL (Eagles) has given TV personalities the chance to join the Jerry Jones family. Experts are abandoning the Saints and Vikings like rats on a sinking ship.

Never mind that they (Dallas) have not won a playoff game since the previous century, the Cowboys' fearsome defensive front, along with Tony Romo and a high-flying group of young guns in Felix Jones, Marion Barber, and Miles Austin, has given prognosticators a favorite in the NFC. And if the Cowboys win their wild-card match, they will travel to Minnesota the following week. Meanwhile, the winner of Arizona and Green Bay would visit New Orleans. That is all dependent on the Cowboys beating the Eagles again.

Of course, the Packers could end up playing the Vikings, either at the Metrodome for the NFC Championship, or if the Eagles somehow right themselves, the divisional round if they can defeat Arizona this weekend. They are also a now fashionable pick. They are the new number one defense thanks to Dom Capers and his magic 3-4 defense. The Packers are adjusting and suddenly Aaron Rodgers is being given more chances, and that is a bad thing for opposing teams to do.

If Minnesota somehow gets by the Cowboys, and the Packers, they may still have to face the Saints and Drew Brees. Not long ago, New Orleans was the clear best team in the NFC. But they are not so clear anymore. They still have by far the most potent offense in football. And they are guaranteed home field. It would be foolish to overlook them as well.

So do we fear these teams? Is it right for fans to believe we will fall in the playoffs again?

Pessimism is the protector of the heart, right? You cannot hurt me if I hurt you first ...

Well, Dr. Vill wants you to know, it is OK to love and lose. It is OK to trust again. As a matter of fact, it was the naiveness if the fans for the Twins that helped spur them to two World Series wins, I believe. No one was telling friends and co-workers that "we are going to lose again". And so, that is what I want you all to do.. Change your thinking.

Be firm in your fan-ship. We do not need to know 'here we go again', or that you 'knew we'd lose'. 31 of the 32 teams will, it is not much of a prediction! Like in the movie 300, it is not so much about winning and losing, as facing the foe together. Standing tall as a community against the Jerry Joneses and the Cheeseheads of the NFL. Standing along with Brett Favre, Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice and a group of players that have had a good season.

It is time to rally the troops, come together, and face a common foe. We are not Republicans and Democrats, we are not rich and poor, we are not black and white. We are Minnesotans ready to fight for a chance at a 5th Super Bowl. And if pretty Cowboys or delusional Packer fans get in the way, we will ride as one and smite them.

It is our destiny.