MINNEAPOLIS – Hundreds upon hundreds of mostly young adults braved frigid temperatures in their pyjamas Saturday night to take part in the annual “Onesie Bar Crawl” through the streets of downtown Minneapolis.
Hours later, the Minnesota Vikings put the New Orleans Saints to bed for the winter – with one of the most dramatic finishes in NFL history – in front of 66,612 maniacs dressed in purple.
With the final seconds ticking off the clock, their season and Super Bowl dreams, quarterback Case Keenum found Stefon Diggs down the sideline for what turned out to be a 61-yard touchdown to give the Vikings a stunning 29-24 victory.
“I was preparing for somebody to contact me so I could get out of bounds, but nobody touched me,” said Diggs, who looked like he would stumble out of bounds. “I lost my foot a little bit and then I just tried to gather myself, and my hand never let me go.”
As far as miracle finishes go, this one has to reside near the top of the list. Everybody believed it was over. The Saints were moving on. The Vikings were toast.
And then just like that, bam, the tables were turned.
“I’ve been through some crazy games,” said Vikings receiver Adam Thielen, who grew up in the state. “I’ve been a Vikings fan my whole life, so I’ve seen some crazy endings, but this will never be topped. There’s no way.”
Minnesota moves on to play the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC championship game next Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field, hoping to become the first team to play for the Super Bowl in its home stadium.
“Wow,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said as he arrived at the post-game podium. “It was a heckuva game, wasn’t it? And the good guys won.”
It looked good for the good guys early.
Led by their No. 1 ranked defence, the Vikings silenced the league’s No. 2-rated offence in the NFC divisional for almost three full quarters. But then Drew Brees performed his own bit of magic.
The Saints quarterback, who was intercepted twice in the first half, threw three touchdown passes – the first with 1:18 left in the third quarter and the last with 3:01 left in the game – to put New Orleans on top for the first time.
Kai Forbath put the Vikings back ahead with a 53-yard field goal and 1:29 to go, but Wil Lutz nailed a 43-yarder to seemingly seal Minnesota’s fate.
Keenum and the Vikings took over again with 25 seconds left, and needing a miracle. After a couple of plays, even that hope appeared lost.
But as Diggs settled under coverage and pulled the ball in around the New Orleans 40, Saints safety Marcus Williams inadvertently helped him out. Trying to make a hit on Diggs, Williams not only whiffed but took out cornerback Ken Crawley.
That left nothing but daylight in front of Diggs.
“There were 10 seconds left, I knew the situation,” said Williams. “You have to make sure you make the play.
“The play happened how it happened. You all saw it. If the play happened different, I would go attack the ball and make a play. You have to overcome it and not let it beat you down. I am going to take it upon myself to make sure that never happens again.”
Meanwhile, the Vikings also have to move on.
“We’ve got to take advantage of this opportunity,” said Thielen. “We’ve got to put this one behind us and go back to work. As awesome as it was to win, we’ve got a really, really tough Philly team, and we’ve got to play at their house.”
The atmosphere in the Vikings house set the tone on Sunday. In the first game ever playoff game in at U.S. Bank Stadium, the usual emotion charging traditions were jacked up.
The Vikings legend to start things by sounding the ceremonial Viking horn was former defensive tackle John Randle. Next was the beater of the giant drum, who is accompanied by the entire crowd on its feet, clapping hands over head and rhythmically chanting “Skol!” The music, highlighted by selections from Minnesota’s own Prince, and the frantic, screaming, towel-waving crowd added to the electric, deafening atmosphere.
It also gives a big boost to the Vikings, who were 7-1 at home while surrendering an average of 12.5 points per game.
On Sunday, they won the toss and elected to put their dominant defence on the field first. The tone was set. They held the Saints to a single opening quarter first down and they led 17-0 before New Orleans picked up its second.
The Vikings maintained that exact cushion until there was 1:18 left in the third quarter. The first of two Brees-to-Michael Thomas touchdown passes over a 3:09 span came a play after Thomas turned into public enemy No. 1 in a collision with Andrew Sendejo that left the Vikings safety sprawled on his back.
The fans were still booing Thomas when Brees floated a 14-yard scoring pass to him just beyond the fingertips of diving corner Xavier Rhodes.
The Saints squeezed closer by taking advantage of a mistake by Keenum, who was off balance when he tried to reach Diggs down the sideline. The toss was intercepted by Williams at the Minnesota 42, and six plays later Brees and Thomas hooked up for a three-yard touchdown.
The Vikings, however, would make it all irrelevant.
“It was amazing,” Rhodes said of the wild finish. “It was a one of a kind moment. You have to believe in miracles. I am speechless.”