SANSEVERE: In a blink, Vikings rewrite their history

Barren land turned to fields of flowers, dark clouds gave way to sunshine, hell became heaven.

The Vikings beat the New Orleans Saints 29-24 with a play that is going down as one of the most improbable and memorable in NFL history.

The Vikings trailed the Saints 24-23 with 10 seconds on the clock and 61 yards of U.S. Stadium turf between them and the end zone. Nobody on God's green turf believed the Vikings were going to win.

Stefon Diggs caught a pass from Case Keenum at the Saints' 34-yard line, put his hand down to keep from falling to the turf and ran the rest of the way for a 61-yard touchdown as time, and the Saints' season, expired.

It was like no other postseason game in Vikings history. The Vikings don't snatch victory from defeat. Defeat snaps its jaws shut on them.

This is a franchise that always seemed snakebit or cursed or whatever term you want to put on it when disappointment and failure become a way of life in the playoffs.

Not this time. Not this team.

"This is a different team," said Adam Thielen, who grew up in Minnesota and knows the soiled history of the Vikings in the postseason better than anyone else on the team. "I don't think anybody here is thinking about curses. This is a new team."

Maybe these Vikings really are special. And different.

They showed they won't fold like cheap origami after squandering a 17-0 lead, showed they can rally to go ahead twice in the final 3:01 of a playoff game, showed they can win when Vikings teams before them always have failed.

"I'm still trying to figure out what happened," defensive end Danielle Hunter said in the locker room. "I couldn't believe it."

Who could?

"Stefon kept going down the sideline," Hunter said. "I wasn't ready to go home. The only thing you can do in that moment was believe. That was some unbelievable stuff."

Yeah, it sure was. For fans. For players. For one and all in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

"I think everybody kind of blacked out," safety Harrison Smith said. "I couldn't move. I was in shock. It was kind of surreal."

It didn't happen in some parallel universe. It happened here in Minnesota in the stadium where, in three weeks, Super Bowl LII is being played. And where the Vikings want to be playing.

The theme throughout the game was "Bring it Home." Those three words were on the towels given to every fan in the stadium, on the video board and spoken by celebrities, former Vikings and members of other Minnesota teams.

Before they can bring it home, the Vikings must go to Philadelphia for the NFC championship game next Sunday and try to make it back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 41 seasons.

After what happened Sunday, talk will begin about this being a team of destiny. And that's OK.

A win like Sunday's can change a player, a fan and a franchise.

"It will help us move forward," Smith said.

It has helped them realize they can blow a substantial lead and still come back, helped them realize one play and a few seconds on the clock are plenty when all you need is one score.

The second half of Sunday's game got away from the Vikings before they got it back, but if they play in Philly as they did in the first half against the Saints when they built the 17-0 lead, they will end that Super Bowl drought.

And if they play like that again in the Super Bowl, they will be picking confetti out of their hair, spraying bottles of champagne at each other and taking turns holding the Lombardi Trophy aloft right here in the same stadium where they stunned the Saints and everyone else.

And then the days of soul-crushing fumbles and missed field goals and 12 men on the field and all the other bad stuff that has happened to this franchise to end postseason after postseason won't be repeated.

And even if they don't play in Philly as they did in the first half against the Saints, they still can find a way to beat the Eagles.

This team is different. You saw how different Sunday.