Updated: 12/29/2008 1:43 AM KSTP.com | Print Story
By: Tim Sherno

SHERNO: Sound the horns! The Vikings are in the playoffs!

We stood outside the dome as the game, the battle, raged within. The sound of thousands of cheering fans cannot be contained by any wall. The Vikings pushed, the Giants pushed back... but in the closing seconds of the game the mighty men in purple had clawed within field goal range and the stage was set. No matter how it ended, this was going to be one of those games people would talk about years from now. But.

But some fans never saw it because they left early. We talked to them as they walked out, resigned to defeat. They expected the Vikings to fall, slain by Giants. But that was not how it would be, and the fans that left early didn't see how it ended.  They were wrong, they Vikes didn't lose this one. They won. In the final seconds. And the cheers from inside the dome filled the air around the dome. The kick went up, the ball raced soundlessly through the still air and crossed through the goalposts and the Giants were the ones to be slain.  

The fans poured outside, as if we didn't know the game was won, as if they had to tell the world.  Faces painted, festooned in purple, hugging and high-5ing, and pointing their fingers into the sky, 'we're number 1.'  They had endured a tough game and never gave up or lost hope. They knew with unwavering certainty that the Vikes would prevail, and prevail they did.

This is for the fans who didn't lose hope or faith. This is for the fan who stayed to the end not knowing, and yet still knowing the Minnesota Vikings would be NFC Northern Division Champions. Congratulations to the team, and to the fans.  Never let it be said it cannot be done, only that it may be difficult.