The Hail Mary
The Vikings and the Hail Mary have a bit of a love-hate relationship over the course of their history. They have been burned by it a couple of times in the past but also were the beneficiaries of it back in 2017 against the Saints.
The Vikings and their fans would be crushed if the 2022 season ended with the other team cashing in on a prayer.
The Vikings have had this happen before, and the most infamous one was well before this writer’s time with Drew Pearson and his Hail Mary completion.
All Vikings fans will argue he pushed off, and they would be right, but the officials didn’t call it that way, and the Vikings lost the playoff game in the most heartbreaking of ways.
Another instance of when this got the Vikings was back in 2003. The Vikings had a chance to get into the playoffs, and all they had to do was beat the Cardinals, who had nothing to play for at the time. The Vikings were a little sloppy on the day, and the game was close.
The Cardinals drove down the field late and were in position to win the game with enough time to throw up a bomb. Josh McCown hurled a pass deep into the end zone, and it was caught by Nate Poole for the game-winner, knocking the Vikings out of the dance.
The Vikings’ 2022 season has had its share of crazy finishes. We’ve seen the Vikings win on a 62-yard field goal, a double doink miss by an opponent, a fumble on the goal line by Josh Allen, and of course, the team rallying after being down by 33 points at the half.
Seeing fate go against them this time and have them lose on a Hail Mary would be a horrible way to end it and would surely sting for many years to come.