The Vikings Rule

As a fan of the Green Bay Packers that has lived in the enemy territory of Minnesota for the past 27 years, I often get to chat with the friendly Vikings fans. Just today, as I was being informed that the Vikings have yet again roundly defeated the Pack in the NFL draft, and are having a great off-season, I realized the truth about the Vikings and their fans. The Vikings are an off-season football team, in fact, I’m thinking they may well be the greatest off-season team of all-time.

Let’s look at the team history. We know they have trouble in the post-season. That goes without saying for an O for four Super Bowl team. Modern day fans will attest to great moments like the ’98 Atlanta NFC Championship game, or the 2001 41-0 destruction by the Giants to cement the fact that the Vikings are not a post-season team.

The Purple and Gold have had some great runs during the regular season, but it is also true that they historically find a way to close out the season in a negative fashion. Vikings fans have had so many disappointments that they have a hard time enjoying anything during the regular season as well. The Vikings fans are saddled with the historical certainty of not being able to make it to the winners circle in the Super Bowl, as well as the teams propensity to follow a great winning streak with a depressing losing streak. No, it is hard for a Viking fan to get true enjoyment out of the regular season.

People that live in the climate of Minnesota are resourceful however, and they have arrived at a stealth solution. The Vikings are the kings of the off-season, there isn’t another NFL team that even comes close.

Year after year I’m regaled by their fans informing me that they have yet again smoked Green Bay in the draft. They are EXCELLENT at all mini-camps, training camps, and often even super during the pre-season. The more advanced Vikings fans have come to look at the pre-season as really being the “post off-season”. A successful pre-season is often treated with as much joy as a Lombardi Trophy would be by other teams with less capability to look on the bright side. When one realizes that a 45 degree day in Minneapolis on the 15^th of March is greeted with the same relish that a Florida resident would see in an 80 degree day on that date, it is easy to understand the way the Minnesota fan's mind works.

It all makes sense now. Failure to reach the play-offs, or an early exit gives the dedicated fan more chance to enjoy a successful off-season. The NFL season is only 5 months at best, a Vikings fan has a full 7 months to be on top of the league. One can only count on this kind of genius in a state where all of the children are above average.