This has been a season of improbable storylines for Minnesota, and now they are one victory away from a Super Bowl in their own backyard
NFL: top five plays from the Divisional Round
In 51 years of Super Bowls no team has ever played for football’s championship on their home field. The closest were the Los Angeles Rams, who in their previous run as tenants of the LA Coliseum, lost the 1980 Super Bowl in Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, 26 miles away.
But throughout this improbable Minnesota Vikings season, the one that fell their way after rival quarterback Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone, the Vikings have quietly eyed the Super Bowl that will be played on home turf. And in a season that has made no sense, where they had the NFC’s second-best record with a quarterback nobody much wanted, they came up with a miraculous final play to beat New Orleans 29-24 on Sunday, putting them one game from a Super Bowl in their stadium.
Since such stories always take on an ethereal tone, it’s only fitting that the game-winning play was named: “7 Heaven”. What else could it be called?
The Vikings were done in their NFC division round game against the Saints on Sunday. Even with their home crowd roaring so loud in the soaring, cathedral-like US Bank Stadium that once unwanted quarterback, Case Keenum, later said he couldn’t hear himself think, New Orleans led 24-23 with 14 seconds to play and the Vikings on their own 39-yard line.
Before he ran 7 Heaven, Keenum looked at his receivers and said: “I’m going to give someone a chance.”
Stefon Diggs would later say he hoped it would be him. Then it was. The ball came down from the stadium lights near the right sideline, there were two Saints defenders near Diggs as he jumped but he thought if he could just catch the ball, they might miss and he could scamper downfield far enough to give the Vikings a shot at a game winning field goal. He felt the ball hit his hands and waited for a New Orleans player to knock him out of bounds. No one did. Moments later the Vikings had one of the greatest wins in playoff history.
NFL
(@NFL).@STEFONDIGGS FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!! #SKOL #NOvsMIN #NFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/UAoNJ2NJ97
“I couldn’t believe what was happening,” Keenum said in his postgame press conference. “It was awesome.”
Who can believe anything about this Vikings season? After the game, Diggs stood at his postgame press conference and marveled at an offense filled with castaways pulled from the scrap heap. Diggs himself was once a high school superstar who went to his local college, the University of Maryland, only to be hurt for much of his time there. He tumbled to the fifth-round in the draft but has quietly grown into one of Minnesota’s most dependable receivers.
Keenum wasn’t supposed to be here either. He was replaced by Jared Goff at the Rams last year and was signed to be a back-up behind Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater, who was returning from a gruesome knee injury. But then Bradford was hurt the first game and Bridgewater wasn’t ready so Keenum became the starter and steadily led Minnesota to a division title. He stood in the team’s interview room after the game with a sport coat over a hooded sweatshirt and kept laughing. Why wouldn’t he? None of it made much sense.
Now the Vikings with one of the NFC’s best defenses and a thrown-together offense go to Philadelphia for a chance to get one last game in their home stadium this season.
Sometimes nothing makes sense.
Sometimes you call a need-a-miracle play with a celestial name and heave the ball hoping for the best.
And sometimes that play works in ways no one can understand. Even when 7 Heaven beats a team called the Saints. And the real miracle of the Vikings becoming the first team to host a Super Bowl is suddenly very real.
Video of the week
(@fearthe_beard11)Myles Jack 😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/oLav6RqWxm
With Jacksonville holding a 27-7 first-half lead against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Jaguars linebacker Myles Jack probably felt comfortable enough with the lead to mock the Steelers with the loser’s “L.” He was right in the end, but the Steelers gave the Jags a scare as the game ended 45-42.
For whatever reason the Steelers just can’t beat Jacksonville. In the two games they have played this year, the Jags have outscored Pittsburgh 75-51. Back in October, the Jaguars intercepted Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger five times. On Sunday, Roethlisberger did have an interception and a fumble – both of which led to Jacksonville touchdowns – but he also threw for 469 yards and five touchdowns in the frenetic comeback.
Sometimes teams just match up well with others. Of course, Pittsburgh shouldn’t have been playing Jacksonville on Sunday. Instead, they should have faced Tennessee, a team they beat 40-17 this season. But five weeks ago, they lost a game they should have won against New England, when replay officials took away what would have been a game-winning touchdown when the ball in tight end Jesse James’s hands moved slightly as he hit the ground. That defeat gave the Pats the No1 seed and delivered the Jaguars to Pittsburgh. How the smallest things can ruin everything.
Fantasy player of the week
Marcus Mariota. Yes, it must seem odd that the quarterback on the losing end of a blowout is the fantasy player of the week. But even in New England’s dominance of Tennessee it’s easy to see how good the Titans quarterback is going to be if he can stay healthy. Despite pulling his quadriceps muscle in the first quarter that affected his mobility, Mariota still completed 22-of-37 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns. He had no interceptions and finished with a quarterback rating of 98.3 – only four points behind New England’s Tom Brady who threw for more yards and one more touchdown. Mariota also was Tennessee’s leading rusher with 37 yards.
Sure, some of Mariota’s numbers were inflated because New England did a fantastic job of taking away the Titans star running back Derrick Henry and yet it seems Mariota is starting to grow into the expectations that came when he was chosen second overall in 2015’s draft. That didn’t seem the case just a few weeks ago as he struggled through his worst regular season to date, including two particularly poor games in December.
Still, he played well in the final regular season game, a victory over Jacksonville that put Tennessee in the playoffs, and led the Titans on a second-half surge in Kansas City to get to Saturday night in New England. The Titans are going to have to support him better going forward but if he can be more consistent in the coming years a real Super Bowl run could be a possibility.
Stat of the week
10,000. That’s the number of playoff passing yards Brady could pass in three weeks if the Patriots make the Super Bowl. Imagine that. Ten thousand yards. In the playoffs. Many quarterbacks consider 10,000 regular season passing yards to be a decent career. Only 187 in league history have thrown for that many.
Quote of the week
“We were able to recognize that pretty much before they even came out of the huddle.” – Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins on defending the final play of Philadelphia’s 15-10 victory over Atlanta.
While many around the NFL, including the ill-informed author of this space, believed the Falcons would storm through Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon, the Eagles defense did a good job of taking away what Atlanta does best. Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox had seven tackles, stifling the Falcons running game and the secondary never allowed star receiver Julio Jones to run free.
And still, Atlanta were two yards from wining the game. Quarterback Matt Ryan led the Falcons on a 14-play-75 yard march over 5:04 late in the fourth quarter that must have made the Eagles’ stomachs quiver. But the Falcons were still two yards short of the game-winning touchdown with a fourth down. With essentially one shot to go to the NFC Championship game, Ryan rolled right, looking to throw, but the Eagles defense left no one open.
“You eliminate all the plays that aren’t going to come,” Jenkins said. The one they settled on was one they had seen Atlanta run in similar situations and they were ready. They sealed up all the possibilities Ryan could pick and finally the quarterback had no choice but toss a pass for Jones that was too high to really catch, making the Eagles upset winners – something that sounds funny to say given they are the top seed in the NFC.