As a resident of the Midwest -- specifically North Dakota or Minnesota -- for all but the youngest nine months of our life, we think we can say with a certain authority that the three NFL teams Minnesota fans dislike the most are: The Packers; the Bears; the Cowboys.
Not always in that order, but often in that order.
We also have developed a certain internal tracking mechanism for great overall football days, mostly because we love when a good plan comes together. The far-fetched scheme heading into Sunday: have the Bears lose at home to the mediocre Seahawks; have the Packers lose at home to the stingier but very beatable Dolphins; and have the desperate Vikings knock off the equally (if not more) desperate Cowboys. If each could have an element of intrigue, and eventual heartbreak for the losers, well that would be even better.
As such, Sunday was the football equivalent of finding $100 lying on the ground. The Vikings didn't play particularly well in many phases of their game. They were massively outgained. Their offensive line didn't even give the QB enough time to hit an ill-advised "send," let alone read through his receiver progressions. And when they did give Brett Favre time, he danced around like he expected he would get clobbered at any moment. Percy Harvin and E.J. Henderson basically stole the game. But what matters in the big-picture can hopefully be fixed; and what matters in the context of Sunday is a victory. It was one the Vikings had to have, and they got it.
That it started mere minutes after the Seahawks finished off the Bears and really seconds after the Dolphins knocked off the Packers in overtime (Aaron Rodgers is now 0-5 lifetime in overtime games, including the playoffs, from what we can tell) only served to make it that much sweeter.
Now if we could only get that fresh start in Gopher Nation so desperately needed.
Wait, what?
