Will this Vikings team break our hearts like so many other before them?

[Purplepain2018]

If you have been a Vikings fan for any length of time you know their history of breaking the hearts of their fans. They play really well getting us to believe that this may be the year that they make it to the Super Bowl and they win it. Well, that has been a dream of mine for over 40 years now.
I was there to witness their Super Bowl loss to John Madden and the Oakland Raiders. I did not see their other three Super Bowl losses. Fast forward to the late 80's with the Vikings teams of Joey Browner, Chris Doleman, Keith Millard, Carl Lee never got a ticket to the big show. Fast forward to the late 90's with the 1998 Rookie of the Year, Randy Moss, along with Cris Carter, Robert Smith, Randall Cunningham and the infamous Gary Anderson with the missed FG against the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC championship game; the Randy Moss teams never got their ticket punched for the Super Bowl. Fast forward again to the 2009 season with Brett Favre and yes we get to the NFC championship game again against the New Orleans Saints and we have the ball at the end of the game with the score tied and we can go down and kick a field goal to win....but, hold on, Favre tries to throw against his body in the middle of the field it gets picked and the Saints go down to kick the game winning field goal; and that team did not get its ticket punched for the Super Bowl.


So what about this team? The 2017-2018 version went 13-3 went to Philadelphia in the NFC championship game and got killed. Has this team recovered from that beat down? What will the 2018-2019 version do? Will they break our hearts again? Can they beat the Lions and Bears to get in the playoffs or will they once again let us down? What are your thoughts?

[PacificNorseWest]

Depends on your expectations. The automatic answer should always be, "yes," but the heartbreak potential only gets worse, the further they get. If they happen to miss the playoffs, I won't be heartbroken. If they lose in the playoffs by getting blown out in one of the 1st two rounds...meh. If they lose close in the WC, it'll be tough, but we've been through worse. If they lose real close in the divisional round though, that's where it starts to hurt, because theoretically, if you can come close to winning that game, there's no reason you can't pull out another W a week later to get to the SB.

Just once, I wish things would break Minnesota's way.

I will add that a lot of the forum has gone through the years of what I call "my dad's Vikings." He witnessed the 4 SB losses, as many of you did and the myriad of other close calls. My generation (started following around 90-91 in the Burns era) has witnessed 4 NFCCG losses. All I felt they would win. 2 were really heartbreakers though in '98 and '09. The loss against the Giants and last year agains the Eagles were blowouts, so the sting was slightly less. It's gotta be tough for life long fans who have watched them since inception or shortly after. They need to win one for ya'll first and foremost.

[Raptorman]

I can tell you this. Being blown out or losing by 1 point doesn't matter in the long run. And to me, losing in the Super Bowl is worse than not making it there. In 52 years, I have never heard a fan of another team say, "At least your team made it to 4 Super Bowls.".

[GermanViking29]

I'll say they make it to conference championship. Don't know what happens in that game though

[VikingLord]

A heart can be broken only if there is a reasonable expectation of success. For example, while all 4 Superbowl losses were tough to take, the Vikings were favored in only 2 of them.

1987 was tough, but mostly because the Vikings steamrolled the 2 best teams in the NFL that year prior to the conference championship game against the Redskins. Had they even just eked out those prior 2 wins, it would have been much easier to take the result against the Redskins.

1998 was just crap. No way around that one. While others who post here would rightly point out that the 14-2 Falcons were no paper tiger, I bet that version of the Vikings beats them 90 times out of 100 if they played the games in the Metrodome that year. Anderson misses his only kick of the entire season. In that game. Yeah, that was a heartbreaker.

2001 was more of a surprise. Vikes benefited when the Rams got knocked out in the first round. That was kind of a fluke, but they rode it until they were exposed by the Giants. Not a heartbreaker, unless as a fan your heart is broken watching pro athletes more or less quit and stop fighting in the middle of a huge game.

2009 was also just crap. That wasn't a great Vikings team, but they had some really great players who managed to screw up in heretofore unseemly great ways at the worst possible great times. If there was a Vikings team that had the moxie to win a Superbowl, though, I think it was that one. But they came to the game with a loaded six shooter in their pocket and somehow managed to empty the cartridge into their own feet.

Last year's team? Naw, not a heartbreaker, at least not for me. That team way overachieved with a journeyman 3rd string QB for most of the year. They were fun to watch though, and the memory from that playoff game against the Saints was AMAZING. Truly a gift. I still get emotional watching replays of it. But watching them get dismantled at the hands of the Eagles, well, it wasn't a huge surprise coming off that big win. The cracks were already showing in the defense at that point, and Nick Foles played one of the best games I've seen by any QB in recent memory. And he followed it up in the Superbowl with another outstanding performance, so it wasn't just a one-off against the Vikings. I don't think the Vikings gave up in that game, either. Foles and the Eagles were just that much better that day.

This year's team? Man, I don't expect much from them. They've been shaky all year and continue to have their challenging moments even in games like they had against the Dolphins. But there are glimmers in them. They can play lights-out on defense at times. They've got so much talent on offense it makes my eyes water. Even the offensive line has moments when they look competent enough. But talk about a team that can't get the gun out of the holster, it's this year's Vikings, at least so far. We barely know if they can shoot straight because so far, they're not even able to point it, much less shoot it. But if they can ever get to the point where they get it out and aim, man, I could see them go all the way. Honestly, they match up against any team out there, AFC or NFC, at least talent-wise. They can probably find a way to break my heart, though. After all, these are the Vikings and I am a Vikings fan. Just as they are capable of finding new and creative ways to lose even when it seems impossible for them to lose, I'm sure they can find a new and creative way to disappoint us all.

This team is more like the 1987 team for me - a team with boundless potential that can surprise to the upside. So I'm going to focus on the positive aspects of the team, hope they can get a head of steam going here, blow up in the playoffs, and shock the world with the first Superbowl win for the Vikings.

[PurpleKoolaid]

OFC it will. It always has. It has never failed to let us down. But we still love the Vikings and will continue to watch them.

[J. Kapp 11]

I can answer this in one word.

Probably.

[PurpleMustReign]

They will. They just will.

[808vikingsfan]

They will, until they won't. and how sweet it will be.

[Mothman]

I can tell you this. Being blown out or losing by 1 point doesn't matter in the long run. And to me, losing in the Super Bowl is worse than not making it there. In 52 years, I have never heard a fan of another team say, "At least your team made it to 4 Super Bowls.".

I have (more than once) but you're right: watching your team lose the Super Bowl is worse than seeing them fail to reach it. It gets harder each time too. It was rough watching the Vikes lose 4 over 8 seasons. I can only imagine how hard it was for Bills fans to see their team lose 4 in a row.

[VikingBolt]

I can tell you this. Being blown out or losing by 1 point doesn't matter in the long run. And to me, losing in the Super Bowl is worse than not making it there. In 52 years, I have never heard a fan of another team say, "At least your team made it to 4 Super Bowls.".

I've had several people tell me that last statement. It feels just as bad to me if they lose by 1 or 20....a loss is still a loss.

However, since moving to San Diego area I started rooting for the Chargers....so....if perchance both of my teams made it to SB, of course I would still feel bad if the Vikes lost, but not as bad as normally, if the Chargers won. That way, my heartbreak would be only 99%.

[Cliff]

It depends. As it stands my expectations are for them to beat the Lions, Lose to the Bears, and then lose the Wild Card. If they can beat the Bears and win in the Wild Card convincingly they'll have that ability again lol

[Texas Vike]

A heart can be broken only if there is a reasonable expectation of success.
...

This team is more like the 1987 team for me - a team with boundless potential that can surprise to the upside. So I'm going to focus on the positive aspects of the team, hope they can get a head of steam going here, blow up in the playoffs, and shock the world with the first Superbowl win for the Vikings.

Totally agree. The only way this team could break my heart is if they were to follow up that 41-17 win over the Dolphins with two more convincing wins over division rivals and then a big win in the Wild Card round. Said another way, they would need to make me 'buy in' and believe that they could actually pull it off before I could possibly be heartbroken this season, because as of right now, I simply don't have any expectations for them to do it this year.

[mansquatch]

My answer is "probably not".

Here is my take. They should win on Sunday vs a listless Lions team. If they lose that game our hearts are not broken, we are just pissed off. (And rightly so)

The Bears game is going to go one of four ways:

1.) Bears play all their starters and we beat them - statement win at the end of the season (this is my ideal outcome)
2.) Bears rest their starters and we beat them - glad we win, but not the kind you can really get excited about
3.) Bears play all in and we lose - again we are annoyed, not as much as losing to Lions, but annoyed. Talent wasted and all of that
4.) Bears rest their starters and we lose - This would be BAD

So let's say for fun, that we beat the Lions and we beat an all in Bears team in week 17. At that point we are heading into the playoffs on a 3 game winning streak and we are feeling good about ourselves. Still, we are going to draw Dallas, Chicago, or LA on the road, most likely as a 6 seed. Any of the three is tough draw for a Vikings team that really hasn't played all together all sesaon outside of the Miami game. If we can get it together and win this this game, then it gets interesting.

From there we likely tee off against the Saints unless we are the #5 side, then we get whomever of the above 3 was the #2 seed. If it is the Saints (and it likely will be) then we face a team on the road that we should have beaten at home in a grudge rematch from last January and 2009. Losing this game would after all the build up to get there would be crappy, but you are losing the to the #1 seed. It would suck, but not that bad.

If they win that game, then we go to the NFCCG and play whomever is left. At this point we are probably the scariest team in the playoffs and the dream is real. If we lose this, then I'd be a bit upset. All the momentum you could ask for at the right time and they blow it. UGH. Then again, that is the Vikings way... After 25 years of watching this team, I've always been disappointed when they play in the NFCCG, I've get well established callouses at this point... Still it would suck to go into this game what that much excitement and that many improbably victories to just lay an egg. .

If they win that and lose the SB, then the heartbreak would be real.

So for me, the real pain isn't going to start until at a minimum the divisional round. Before then I'm not really bought in. If they go to the big game then all bets are off.

[Pondering Her Percy]

I'm probably taking a break from the board whenever we do lose this year in the playoffs. Because I'm guessing that no matter how we lose, no matter who we lose to, it's going to be Kirk Cousins fault. Last week it got pretty bad on here. I know I was involved in some of it (which I apologize for). I hope this board doesnt get to that point again. We probably arent a SB team this year. Why? We dont really know. We are going to run with teams in the playoffs for sure. But I cant see us running through the playoffs. We'd probably have to beat a combination of Chicago, Rams, Saints or Dallas, Rams Saints. All on the road no less. I kind of figure the next few years will be our shot to really push for it. But I have a feeling it will be an absolute war room on here on that day. I just hope guys can come on here and discuss (and criticize) but not just explode with "Cousins this and Cousins that". If he TRULY has a bad game, that's one thing. But if it's one of those games where a lot went wrong in all areas, I hope this doesnt turn into lets blame it all on Cousins board and how we wasted money. I'd rather not read all that for the upcoming months.