Marvel at This Metaphor of the 2018 Vikings Missing the Playoffs
The 2018 season was satisfying for the Chicago Bears for several reasons. They went 12-4, won the division, and made the playoffs for the first time in eight years. Those are all great. They also ended their losing streak against Aaron Rodgers at Soldier Field. However, the most pleasant moment of the year had to be knocking the Minnesota Vikings out of the playoff race.
Some context is needed for this. One must understand the Bears had not won a game in Minnesota since 2011. The past few years had been particularly bad with the Vikings gleefully blowing them out in the season finale. Most people expected the same. Not because they were a superior team this time but because the Bears really didn’t have much to play for.
They’d already wrapped up the division and couldn’t advance in the playoff rankings any further. It would’ve made prudent sense in many minds for them to rest their starters and prepare for the wild card round. Apparently Minnesota thought the same way. That’s why it came as a rude shock when the Bears marched right down the field to score on their opening possession.
Head coach Matt Nagy was not taking his foot off the gas. His team played to win, and win they did. They stunned the Vikings 24-10, dominating the game. It was a final humiliation for a team that many had predicted would go to the Super Bowl.
Minnesota Vikings misery is perfectly encapsulated
Perhaps nobody put the empty feeling the Vikings had after that game in better words than Adam Rank of NFL.com. He wrote his State of the Franchise piece on Minnesota going into 2019. While he still views them as a talented team who can make the playoffs, he couldn’t help but deliver a harsh dig at what it must’ve felt like last year despite paying Kirk Cousins his massive new contract.
“It’s tough to spend all of that money on a quarterback and not make the playoffs. Like paying to upgrade to first class, only to find out that they gave away your seats and now you’re going to have to fly home on Spirit Airlines.”
Nobody could’ve put it better. The Vikings purchased Cousins with the express plan to win the Super Bowl. He was their missing piece. To not even get a chance to play in January? That must’ve stung in so many ways. What’s worse is the Bears don’t appear to be going away and the Packers seem to have fixed some of their lingering issues.
That championship window may be shrinking faster than expected.