Said simply, this week was epic. The Vikings overcame a deficit so large even LL Cool J would call it a comeback.

And, as usual, we have thoughts:

For starters, how’d you like to be Matt Ryan? Dude probably thought he was in the clear. The memory of his 28-3 Super Bowl choke was fading, and he’s on a new team. Ryan was probably finally feeling like himself again, making little comments about Brady’s divorce, “Looks like Mr. Perfect isn’t so perfect after all. Am I right, guys?” Or maybe, “after Gisele takes him to the cleaners, it’ll be more like TB6!” Ryan probably thought he was just going to slink out of the room. Not so fast! The only question we have now is should it be Matty “Melt” Ryan or Matty “De-Ice” Ryan, as there’s no one better to cough up a big lead when you need it.

This was the largest comeback in NFL history. And when something historical happens, you know it’s a big deal. How many people Googled “how long has the NFL been around?” when they heard this was the biggest comeback in history? 102 years. That’s a lot of history! Yep, our Vikings just pulled off the greatest pro football comeback in over a century. Of course, they did.

It really was a tale of two halves as the 0-33 first half for the Vikings was a “Now That’s What I Call Music” greatest hits of all things SKÖLIOSIS. That first half was a thesis paper showing precisely how being a Vikings fan is bad for your health. It was a half that had nothing, but also had it all. A smorgasbord of suffering, our purple played all the hits:

We had special teams problems. From the opening kick return, to a scoop and score, to a drop of a fake punt - special teams were not special.
We had a Pick 6. A staple. Any overt football disaster needs at least one of these.
We had Kirk slowly falling down. Of course, we need a linemen to step on Kirk’s foot so he can slowly fall down at least once.
We had turnovers.

Early in the second half once momentum had shifted I turned to a buddy and said, “You know how this ends don’t you?”

I had concluded the Vikings would come all the way back from the dead only to:

A) not convert the 2-point conversion

OR

B) Convert the 2-point conversion but leave like :37 seconds on the clock for the Colts to drive into field goal range and erase the greatest comeback of all time.

Why would I think this way? Because these are our Vikings. This is SKOLIOSIS. Nothing comes easy, and we can’t have nice things.

But that’s not what happened now is it? Nope, misery’s greatest hits turned into a football fairytale. Suffering turned into a storybook . . .

The Clinch That Stole Christmas.

Every Vikings Fan
Down in Skol-ville
Likes their Purple a lot…

But the Grinch,
Who lived just outside of Skol-ville,
Most certainly did NOT!

The Grinch hated the Vikings! The whole Vikings Season!
Now please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.

It could be that after years of losing, the Purple left him a faithless jerk.
Or perhaps he just had zero faith in “Primetime Kirk.”

Maybe it was a little too much punting from a guy with a “dad bod.”
Or maybe he was mad that the 10-3 Vikings were still being called a fraud.

Maybe it was that they were always seemingly playing below their potential
Or maybe it was that nagging overall -1 point differential

Probably though, the most likely reason of all
May have been that years of purple heartbreak left his heart two sizes too small.

But, whatever the reason,
His heart filled with distrust and dislikes,
The Grinch tuned in on a Saturday
Ready to cheer against these Vikes

With a win over the lowly Colts, the Vikes could earn a division Clinch
But the Colts could surely stop that from happening,
thought the cynical old Grinch

Things started out ugly with shoddy special teams
And the Colts kick-returners running unchallenged
through wide open seams

Soon followed by a blocked punt, returned for a 24-yard TD
And a Colts offense scoring so often, they made it look easy

Meanwhile the Purple stumbled and fumbled, sensing imminent defeat
Heck, even Kirk’s own linemen were clumsily stepping on his feet

The offense was out of sync, desperately seeking a quick fix
When already down 23-0, Kirk mistakenly audibled to a pick-six.

Throw in 4 first half Field Goals by Colts Kicker Chase McLaughlin
The 33-0 halftime deficit had the Grinch saying “I knew it!” and laughin’

As the team headed to the locker room, the restless fans began to boo.
What the Vikes needed now, was our very own, Cindy Lou Who.

Enter a scrappy KJ Osborn, usually Vikes Wide Receiver three,
KJ found himself in the Colts secondary running free.

The Vikes started scoring with some K.J, then C.J,
Some Thielen and Dalvin, some J.J and T.J.

The Purple fans were encouraged, seeing their Vikes finally tryin’
And felt a comeback brewing, as they began de-icing Matt Ryan.

The defense would hold steady as the offense went on the attack
Poor Chandon Sullivan had not one, but two TDs called back

In the end the Vikings would win 39-36, a historic comeback complete
A comeback that had everyone jumping out of their seat

Watching the game, the Grinch puzzled and puzzed till his puzzler was sore.
Then he thought of something he hadn't before.

Maybe Super Bowls, he thought, don't come from a store.
Maybe being a Vikings fan, means a little bit more!

And what happened then? Well, in Skol-ville they say
That the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes that day.
The Grinch stopped being a grump because ‘Tis the Season,
He started listening to Patrick Peterson, even put on “Don’t Stop Believin!”

So, the next time you hear a grumpy Vikings fan go on a rant,
Remember this year even the Grinch is doing the Skol! chant.

We hope you enjoyed that little pigskin poetry. But, don’t worry—we’re not done. Here are a few more nuggets from the greatest comeback in NFL history. That’s fun to say, isn’t it?

Watching the game on Saturday, the Dalvin Cook jersey number switch mystery was solved once and for all. Of course! #4 in purple now made complete sense as our little pool ball went far pocket on a 64-yard yard screen pass.

Patrick Peterson needs to start a cult because I want to join it. Wait, maybe we already have.

The story of Peterson saying to Cousins at half, “we just need 5 touchdowns’ and Cousins thinking he was being sarcastic, only to get a more serious stare from Pat P, “we only need 5 touchdowns“ is amazing. Patrick Peterson is the 2022 Vikings spirit animal. I couldn’t help but think of him every time I heard Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” blaring on repeat on the US Bank Stadium TouchTunes machine. Patrick Peterson can make you believe you can do anything.

Justin “JJ2K” Jefferson continued his ascent toward the record book and wide receiver immortality. Admit it, this is the most you’ve used the calculator on your iPhone figuring out how many yards per game Jefferson needs in the remaining 3 games to make it to 2,000. It’s 125.66.

If KJ Osborne is our receiving corps Ringo Starr, the the Colts game was his “Yellow Submarine.” KJ was exactly the spark we needed at exactly the moment we needed it.

If Dalvin is a pool ball, our Kevinly Father Coach O’Connell is Tom Cruise in “The Color of Money.” Isn’t it great to have a young, positive coach on the sidelines doing fist pumps instead of an old curmudgeon who only wants to draft safeties and wear eye patches? I bet Coach Kevin does Peloton, and he’s probably super good at it.

O’Connell’s decision to punt in overtime shows just how great a coach he is. It also shows Kev has zero of the emotional baggage us Vikings fans carry. All of us wanted them to go for it in OT because if we lost, at least we went down swinging. Kev doesn’t think this way. Nope, Kevin knew even with a punt we had Indianapolis on the ropes. I guess when you’re coaching against a guy named Saturday and he can’t even get his shit together on a Saturday, you probably know you have a good shot. I bet the Saturday family didn’t even get around to sending a Christmas card out this year. Sad.

Related, if I was Colts owner Jim Irsay, I might condisder buying Bob Cratchit a turkey or maybe doing a tarot card reading sometime soon as it seems he’s officially on the wrong side of the karmic universe. After Irsay unceremoniously fired Head Coach Frank Reich — the guy (Saturday) he plucked out of the broadcast booth to replace him loses on the largest comeback in NFL history allowing the Vikings to break the previous comeback record held by a Bills team, quarterbacked by none other than Frank Reich. I guess for Reich, even though his record was broken by the Vikings, he’s probably happy they did it against his former employer.

Just when it looked like the Vikings bend don’t break defense had regressed to a bend-over defense in the first half, things completely flipped in the second. The Vikes D gave up a whopping 3 points the entire second half while the offense trucked its way to 36 points. Well done.

Finally, we have to talk about Kirk. His wife may dress him (we liked the jacket!), he may trip and fall once every thirty minutes—but the hard reality as a 2022 Vikings fan is this: we would be nowhere without Kirk. Kirk is our ride or die. Get used to it.

And maybe that’s okay.

Cousins gets hit more than any NFL quarterback yet doesn’t get hurt. He can miraculously keep an entire receiving corps happy by spreading the ball around, and this season he’s shown he never believes we are out of it. I mean who would have thought the Buffalo game wasn’t going to end up being the best game of the season?!

If you want to know how vested we’ve all become in Kirk Cousins, try this simple exercise. Imagine you’re watching a Vikes game and Kirk gets hit and stays down. Admit it, you have two thoughts in this moment: 1) we’re screwed, there goes the season and 2) who is our backup? Does anyone even know?

So, yes, like most of the Purple fan base, our hearts grew 3 times this Saturday as we watched “The Clinch That Stole Christmas.” Now we just need to see if it’s just a bigger heart to break, or if we’re going to stare into Patrick Petersons eyes, and start walking across the hot coals to playoff success. Patrick promises, you won’t feel a thing!