One of the first significant Minnesota sports moments of 2016 came when Vikings kicker Blair Walsh missed a 27-yard field goal wiiiiide left in a 10-9 playoff loss to Seattle, setting the tone for what would come to be a pretty forgettable year in local sports.
As we look ahead to 2017, then, we can use that moment to decide whether we want to be optimistic or pessimistic about the future:
The pessimist would say that kick cast a shadow on the whole year and particularly the Vikings, leading to an 8-8 finish and a less-certain path forward.
The optimist would say that if there is one thing we know about 2017, it is this: It will not start with a Vikings kicker missing a short field goal to cost the team a playoff win.
(Wait, maybe that's pessimistic, too, since the reason we know that is that the Vikings aren't in the playoffs.)
More than likely, 2017 will be another mixed bag of outcomes and surprises when it comes to local sports. The past can provide us clues but not a complete map. With that in mind, here are some guesses about what might happen and some reminders about things that are sure to come in the next year:
1) The Vikings are heading into an interesting and important offseason that will lead to a similarly described season. Was 2016 an injury-filled bump on a path to sustained success or are there more cracks in the foundation of a team built by Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer than we realized?
There is plenty of evidence to support both options, but the tiebreaker could be the chance to simply hit the reset button after a 2016 season that started with so much promise despite adversity but ended with disappointment.